UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT   LOS  ANGELES 


IN   MEMOR1AM 
BERNARD   MOSES 


PRE-HISTORIC  NATIONS; 

OR,  INQUIRIES 

CONCERNING  SOME  OF  THE  GREAT  PEOPLES  AND 
CIVILIZATIONS  OF  ANTIQUITY, 


THEIR  PROBABLE  RELATION  TO  A  STILL  OLDER 

CIVILIZATION  OF  THE  ETHIOPIANS  OR 

CUSHITES  OF  ARABIA. 


BY  JOHN  D.  BALDWIN,  A.M. 


NEW    YORK: 

HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  PUBLISHERS, 

FRANKLIN     SQUARE! 
1872. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1SCO,  by 
HARPER   &   BROTHERS, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Southern 
District  of  New  York. 

Copyright  also  secured  in  Great  Britain,  and  entered  at  Stationer's  Hall,  London, 
and  translation  reserved. 


THIS  WORK  IS  RESPECTFULLY  INSCRIBED 


AMERICAN    ORIENTAL  SOCIETY, 

OF   WHICH    THE    AUTHOR 
HAS   THE    HONOR    OF    BEING    A   MEMBER. 


Montesquieu  says:  "II  y  a  des  choses  que  tout  le  monde.  dit,  parce 
qu'elles  ont  ete  dites  un  fois."    Many  stupidities  of  history  and  dog- 
^  matic  denials  of  the  past  have  no  other  warrant.    Instead  of  repeating 

anything  "because  it  has  been  said  once,"  it  is  better  to  accept  the 
results  of  conscientious  investigation. 


213192 


CONTENTS. 


Page 

I.  INTRODUCTORY  GENERALITIES 9 

H.  PRELIMINARY  SUGGESTIONS  RELATIVE  TO  THE  CURRENT 
CHRONOLOGIES,  THE  RELATION  OF  HELLAS  TO  CIVILIZA- 
TION, AND  THE  MEANING  OF  PRE-HISTORIC  TIMES 23 

The  current  Chronologies 24 

Hellas  and  Civilization 39 

Pre-Historic  Times 49 

HI.  PRE-HISTORIC  GREATNESS  OF  ARABIA 55 

An  early  Civilization  in  Arabia 56 

Arabia  was  the  Ancient  Ethiopia 57 

Misapprehension  concerning  Arabia 67 

The  two  Races  in  Arabia 73 

Concerning  the  Old  Race 78 

Ancient  Arabian  Ruins  and  Inscriptions 80 

The  ancient  Arabian  Language 88 

Concerning  the  Origin  of  Alphabetic  Writing 91 

Ancient  History  of  Arabia 95 

Greek  Notices  of  Arabia 99 

Arabian  Recollections  of  the  Past 102 

Fragments  of  Old  Arabian  History 108 

The  Cushite  System  of  Political  Organization 112 

Cushite  Science,  Astronomical  and  Nautical 11G 

IV.  THE  PHOENICIANS 129 

Origin  of  the  Phoenicians ]30 

The  Immigration  doubted 135 

"Eenan's  Theory «...  137 

Their  Cushite  Religion  and  Architecture 141 


vi  Contents. 

P«K» 

Antiquity  of  the  Phoenicians 145 

Periods  of  Phoenician  History 147 

The  Building  of  Gades 15G 

Extent  of  Phoenician  Influence 158 

The  Pelasgians « 162 

Minos  and  his  Conquests ./ 1G5 

Phoenician  Language  and  Literature 107 

V.  CUSHITE  OR  ARABIAN  ORIGIN  OF  CHALDEA. 1T3 

Chaldean  Civilization  and  Learning 174 

History  of  Chaldea  by  Berosus 180 

Chaldean  Antiquities  and  Traditions 185 

The  Chaldean  Ruins  and  Inscriptions 188 

The  Origin  of  Chaldea 192 

The  Cushite  Language  in  Chaldea 194 

Political  Changes  in  Ancient  Chaldea 190 

The  Year  2234  B.C 193 

Concerning  an  old  Chaldean  Temple 202 

Assyria  and  the  Semitic  Race 204 

ATheory  concerning  the  Chaldeans 205 

Concerning  Chaldean  Ancient  History 206 

Hypothetical  Scheme  of  Chaldean  History 209 

n.  INDIA,  SANSKRIT,  AND  ANTE-SANSKRIT : 216 

The  Indo-Aryans  preceded  by  the  Cushites 218 

The  Rock-cut  Temples  of  India 228 

The  Dravidian  Race  and  their  Language 238 

Aryan  History  and  Antiquity 243 

The  Veda  and  the  Vedic  Age 247 

Religious  History  of  Sanscrit  India 253 

Modern  Brahmanism 258 

Indian  History  and  Chronology 260 

"The  Ancient  Malayan  Empire £63 

VII.  EGYPT  PREVIOUS  TO  MENES 2C7 

Manetho's  History  of  Egypt 268 

Origin  and  Antiquity  of  Egypt 271 

The  old  Sanskrit  Books  on  Egypt 277 


Contents.  vii 

Pago 

Dionysus,  called  Osiris  and  Bacchus 23 

Mythology  and  Mythological  Personages 292 

The  Ages  before  Menes 29(> 

Antiquity  of  Writing  in  Egypt 300 

Attempts  to  measure  Egyptian  Antiquity 303 

VIII.  AFRICA  AND  THE  ARABIAN  CIJSHITES 306 

The  Races  in  Africa 307 

A  brief  Essay  on  Races 311 

The  Arabian  Cushites  in  Africa 322 

Traces  of  African  Ancient  History 32G 

Northern  Africa  in  Pre-Hlstoric  Times 335 

The  Berbers,  especially  the  Touaricks 338 

Navigation  round  Africa 345 

IX.  WESTERN  EUROPE  IN  PRE-HISTORIC  TIMES 352 

An  ancient  Civilization  in  Western  Europe 353 

The  Age  of  Bronze  in  Western  Europe 358 

The  Ancient  Race  in  Western  Europe 368 

The  Ancient  History  of  Italy 371 

Western  Europe  anciently  called  Africa 375 

The  old  Sanskrit  Books  on  Western  Europe 378 

The  Ancient  History  of  Ireland 381 

The  Keltic  Language 389 

Ancient  Communication  with  America 392 


PRE-HiSTORic  NATIONS. 


INTRODUCTORY  GENERALITIES. 

THE  origin  of  man,  and  the  date  of  liis  first  appearance 
on  earth,  have  always  been  subjects  of  speculation.  We 
see  this  in  the  cosmogonic  myths  and  legends  of  antiquity, 
and  in  the  dogmatic  chronologies  that  have  been  allowed 
currency  in  modern  times;  but,  so  far  as  we  know,  it  is 
only  in  very  recent  times  that  visionary  speculation  on  these 
topics  has  given  way  to  enlightened  inquiry.  The  cyclical 
schemes  of  the  ancient  Eastern  world,  which  computed  by 
tens  of  thousands  and  hundreds  of  thousands  the  years  of 
man's  existence  on  earth  previous  to  the  regular  begin- 
nings of  history,  may  be  treated  with  small  ceremony  now ; 
but  they  are  quite  as  scientific  as  Archbishop  Usher's 
scheme  of  chronology,  for  the  men  who  invented  them  were 
skilful  astronomers ;  and  whoever  undertakes  to  show  that 
they  are  not  quite  as  reasonable,  may  discover  that  some- 
thing can  be  said  on  the  other  side  of  this  question. 

These  cyclical  estimates  of  the  past  may  turn  out  to  be 
as  near  the  truth  as  Usher's  system  of  chronology,  but 
neither  the  one  nor  the  other  can  now  be  accepted  as  an 
intelligent  and  truthful  exposition  of  the  antiquity  of  the 
human  race.  The  whole  tendency  of  scientific  investiga- 
tion and  discovery,  at  the  present  time,  is  to  class  them  to- 

A2 


10  Pre-IIistonc  Nations. 

gether  as  alike  unwarranted  and  worthless.  We  moderns 
have  underrated  the  antiquity  of  man.  This  is  shown 
more  and  more  clearly  in  two  departments  of  inquiry, 
where  the  greatest  results  are  yet  to  be  realized — geology 
and  the  science  of  language.  Conscientious  geologists  are 
forced  to  say,  "  The  date  of  man  must  be  carried  back  far- 
ther than  we  had  heretofore  imagined ;"  and  accomplished 
scholars  and  thinkers  respond  from  the  field  of  linguistic 
science, "  Late  discoveries  are  showing  us  that  the  an-tiq- 
nity  of  the  human  race  upon  earth  must  be  much  greater 
than  has  been  generally  supposed." 

These  two  sciences  bring  important  aid  to  the  study  of 
pre-historic  times,  by  compelling  us  to  throw  off  the  tram- 
mels of  false  chronologies,  and  by  showing  us  room  in  the 
past  for  those  great  pre-historic  developments  of  civiliza- 
tion, and  those  long  pre-historic  ages  of  human  activity  and 
enterprise,  Avhich  are  indicated  by  the  oldest  monuments, 
records,  and  mythologies.  It  is  impossible  to  study  faith- 
fully the  ancient  mythologies,  or  the  results  of  exploration 
in  the  oldest  ruins,  or  the  fragmentary  records  in  which  the 
ancients  speak  of  what  to  them  was  misty  antiquity,  with- 
out feeling  that,  to  accept  all  they  signify,  we  must  enlarge 
the  past  far  beyond  the  limits  of  any  scheme  of  chronology 
known  to  modern  times.  If  we  lack  strength  and  boldness 
to  break  down  the  barriers  of  unreason  and  pursue  inquiry 
with  unfaltering  reverence  for  truth,  we  may  find  refuge 
in  the  oracular  cave  of  historical  skepticism,  where  little  or 
nothing  is  seen  beyond  the  first  Greek  Olympiad  save  bar- 
barism, lying  fables,  and  general  chaos.  But  human  intel- 
ligence cannot  remain  imprisoned  there,  especially  in  this 
age,  when  so  much  is  constantly  added  to  our  knowledge 
of  the  past,  and  when  increasing  means  for  a  careful  and 


The  Oldest  Writings.  11 

hopeful  study  of  antiquity  so  stimulate  inquiry  as  to  make 
it  irrepressible. 

The  oldest  writings  in  existence  are  inscriptions  found  in 
the  ancient  ruins  of  Egypt  and  Southwestern  Asia.  The 
oldest  books,  leaving  out  those  of  China,  are  those  preserved 
by  the  Indian  and  Iranian  branches  of  the  Aryan  family — 
the  Rig- Veda,  a  translated  fragment  of  the  Desatir,  and 
portions  of  the  works  of  Zoroaster ;  next  to  these  come  the 
Hebrew  Scriptures ;  then  follow  the  works  of  Homer,  and 
some  other  books  and  fragments  of  books,  in  the  Greek 
language,  representing  the  culture  of  the  lonians  of  Asia 
Minor.  These  books  show  us  the  civilization  of  the  com- 
munities in  which  they  originated,  but  they  do  not  tell  us 
when  or  where  civilization  first  appeared.  The  mytholo- 
gies, the  ruins,  the  discoveries  of  linguistic  science,  and  the 
general  voice  of  tradition,  lead  us  to  the  conclusion  that, 
so  far  as  relates  to  the  Cushite,  Semite,  and  Aryan  races, 
its  first  appearance  was  somewhere  in  the  southwestern 
part  of  Asia ;  but  we  can  not  describe  the  agencies  and 
methods  of  its  first  development,  nor  give  the  date  of  its 
origin. 

We  nowhere  find  a  continued  and  permanent  advance- 
ment of  any  nation  or  community  of  these  races,  but  we 
see  a  constant  progress  of  civilization  from  lower  toward 
higher  degrees,  from  the  few  to  the  many,  and  from  limited 
and  special  toward  many-sided  and  all-embracing  develop- 
ment. Nations  rise,  flourish,  and  sink  again  to  obscurity. 
The  Egypt  of  to-day  is  not  that  Egypt  which  we  see  in  the 
monuments  of  its  Old  Monarchy ;  Chaldea  is  not  now  the 
ancient  Chaldea  which  we  study  in  its  ruins;  to-day  we 
inquire  in  vain  on  the  coast  of  Asia  Minor  for  that  Ionian 
confederacy  whose  marvelous  culture,  passing  over  into 


12  P  I'e-Historic  Nations. 

the  Hellenic  peninsula,  illumed  Athens,  and  made  that  city 
the  glory  of  Hellas.  It  is  long  since  Carthage  and  Rome 
ceased  to  exist.  But,  while  communities  and  nations  have 
disappeared,  this  old  civilization  has  remained ;  sometimes 
checked  and  lowered  for  a  succession  of  ages,  but  always 
reappearing  with  new  developments  of  its  forces  and  new 
forms. 

The  Reverend  Dr.  Lang,  in  his  "  View  of  the  Origin  and 
Migrations  of  the  Polynesian  Nation,"  is  led  by  the  sub- 
ject to  make  this  observation :  "  In  Tuscany  and  in  Egypt, 
in  India  and  in  China,  and,  I  will  add,  even  in  the  South 
Sea  Islands  and  in  both  Americas,  we  behold  the  evidences 
of  a  primitive  civilization,  which,  in  some  instances,  had 
run  its  course  anterior  to  the  age  of  Homer,  but  which,  at 
all  events,  acknowledged  no  obligation  to  the  wisdom  or 
refinement  of  the  Greeks."  Few  will  question  the  fact  he 
states,  so  far  as  relates  to  Italy  and  Asia,  although  not 
many  who  carefully  study  the  past  will  describe  all  that 
civilization  as  "primitive."  Dr.  Lang  himself  is  not  quite 
satisfied  with  this  description ;  for,  in  attempting  to  ex- 
plain the  origin  of  the  ancient  civilization  which  had  near- 
ly run  its  course  in  different  countries  previous  to  the  time 
of  Homer,  he  adopts  the  notion  of  Bailly  and  others,  that  it 
was  originated  by  the  antediluvians,  and  brought  through 
the  Deluge  to  their  successors  by  the  family  of  Noah. 
Without  fully  exploring  it,  he  saw  a  fact  that  was  much 
too  large  for  his  chronology — a  fact  for  which  there  was 
not  sufficient  room  in  the  past,  as  he  measured  it. 

The  great  civilization,  so  apparent  in  various  nations  of 
antiquity  that  present  themselves  to  view  just  beyond  the 
borders  of  regular  history,  was  not  the  work  of  a  single 
people  nor  of  a  single  period  of  national  existence.  Thoso 


Whence  came  Civilization?  13 

nations  were  preceded  by  others  no  less  great  and  impor- 
tant, although  more  hidden  from  observation  by  their  great- 
er distance  from  us  in  time.  The  civilization  of  the  Phoe- 
nicians, Egyptians,  and  other  nations  of  the  East  passed  to 
the  Gi'eeks,  the  Romans,  and  the  magnificent  empire  of  the 
Caliphs,  making  some  losses  and  receiving  new  develop- 
ments. Without  speaking  of  what  we  received  from  the 
Kelts,  whose  civilization  was  greater  than  history  has  ad- 
mitted, the  civilization  of  modern  Europe  has  grown  part- 
ly out  of  that  of  Greece  and  Rome,  and  also  out  of  that  of 
the  Saracens  to  a  much  greater  extent  than  is  generally 
recognised.  So  has  the  mental  and  social  cultivation,  first 
seen  in  Western  Asia,  flowed  on  through  the  ages,  from 
people  to  people,  from  the  civilizers  of  Egypt,  Chaldea, 
and  India  to  Europe  and  America,  never  defeated  entirely, 
and  always  surviving  the  "  dark  ages"  that  obscured  it. 
We  have  the  highest  and  widest  development  it  has  ever 
reached.  To  find  its  starting-point  and  write  its  early  his- 
tory, we  must  be  able  to  explore  the  obscurest  deeps  of 
antiquity. 

And  yet  what  seems  in  these  inquiries  to  be  the  obscur- 
est antiquity  becomes  extremely  modern  when  considered 
in  connection  with  what  geology  says  of  the  antiquity  of 
man.  Those  familiar  with  the  later  discoveries  of  this  sci- 
ence know  how  slowly,  and  against  what  persistency  of 
incredulity  and  doubt,  geologists  themselves  have  been 
brought  to  admit  the  evidence  which  shows  the  existence 
of  the  human  race  in  the  latter  part  of  the  geological  peri- 
od Avhich  Lyell  and  others  describe  as  Post-pliocene.  This 
period,  which  next  precedes  the  "  Recent,"  or  that  in  which 
we  live,  seems  as  modern  as  yesterday  in  relation  to  the 
countless  geological  ages  that  went  before  it;  but  some 


14:  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

tentative  efforts  at  computation  make  us  feel  how  far  awn  y 
it  is  from  yesterday.  Sir  Charles  Lyell's  lowest  estimate 
of  the  time  required  to  form  the  present  delta  and  alluvial 
plain  of  the  Mississippi  is  more  than  100,000  years.  It  be- 
longs almost  wholly  to  the  Recent  period.  The  lower 
portion  of  the  peninsula  of  Florida  has  been  created  by  a 
constant  growth  of  coral  reefs  toward  the  south,  and  this 
growth  is  still  in  full  activity.  "  The  whole  is  of  Post-ter- 
tiary origin,"  say  Agassiz  and  Lyell,  "  the  fossil  zoophytes 
and  shells  being  all  of  the  same  species  as  those  now  in- 
habiting the  neighboring  sea ;"  that  is  to  say,  the  com- 
mencement of  the  growth  was  later  than  the  beginning  of 
the  Post-pliocene  formation,  and  probably  not  much  older 
than  the  beginning  of  the  Recent  period.  Agassiz,  having 
ascertained  as  nearly  as  possible  the  average  rate  of  this 
coral  growth,  estimates  that  the  gradual  formation  of  the 
southern  half  of  Florida  must  have  filled  a  period  of  not 
less  than  135,000  years. 

It  is  no  part  of  my  purpose  to  discuss  geological  ques- 
tions. The  questions  presented  in  this  volume,  and  the 
conclusions  reached,  do  not  in  any  way  depend  on  geolog- 
ical estimates  of  past  time.  It  may,  however,  be  observed 
that  the  discoveries  of  geology  show  plainly  that  the  pre- 
historic ages  in  "Western  Europe  were  not  wholly  barbar- 
ous. They  show  us  the  remains  of  a  very  remote  "Age  of 
Stone,"  in  which  there  is  no  trace  of  civilization ;  but  they 
also  bring  to  light  manufactured  articles,  sepulchral  cus- 
toms, and  old  structures,  the  remains  of  other  remote  ages 
when  civilized  peoples  inhabited  that  part  of  Europe; 
such  are  the  monuments  of  the  "  Age  of  Polished  Stone" 
and  the  "  Age  of  Bronze."  Western  Europe  has  its  an- 
cient ruins  that  invite  careful  study.  Its  antiquities  of 


Two  ancient  Civilizations  in  Asia.  15 

this  kind  are  not  as  grand  as  those  at  the  East,  although 
the  old  temple  at  Abury  was  not  destitute  of  grandeur  in 
the  days  of  its  glory.  They  have  nothing  to  rival  the 
amazing  architecture  or  the  multitudinous  inscriptions 
found  in  the  old  ruins  of  Egypt  and  Chaldea,  but  they 
show  us  remains  of  civilized  peoples  of  whom  history  gives 
no  account. 

We  must  turn  to  Asia  to  discover  the  earliest  manifesta- 
tions of  civilized  life,  and  ascertain  how  far  they  can  be 
traced  back  into  the  past.  Here  we  see  two  great  devel- 
opments of  ancient  civilization,  entirely  disconnected  from 
each  other,  and,  so  far  as  we  can  see,  nearly  equal  in  age. 
The  origin  of  each  is  hidden  by  the  shadows  of  very  re- 
mote antiquity.  At  the  East  is  China,  with  literary  rec- 
ords claiming  to  be  more  than  nineteen  centuries  older 
than  the  Christian  era,  and  with  a  culture  in  science,  in- 
dustry, literature,  and  the  arts  of  civilized  life  scarcely  in- 
ferior to  that  of  the  most  enlightened  nations  that  have  ap- 
peared in  history.  Tried  by  the  standards  of  modern  Eu- 
rope, it  takes  a  very  high  place  in  the  respect  and  admira- 
tion of  those  best  acquainted  with  it.  Professor  Whitney, 
in  his  "Language  and  the  Study  of  Language,"  says  very 
justly, "  No  race,  certainly,  outside  the  Indo-European  and 
Semitic  families,  and  not  many  races  of  those  families,  can 
show  a  literature  of  equal  value  with  the  Chinese." 

This  Chinese  culture  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  facts 
in  the  world's  history.  Instead  of  passing  from  nation  to 
nation,  and  taking  new  forces  and  new  forms  in  a  grand 
progress  round  the  globe,  it  has  neither  wandered  far  from 
home,  nor  shown  any  remarkable  variety  of  development. 
It  has  remained  chiefly  in  the  country  where  it  grew  up, 
and  in  the  hands  of  the  people  by  whom  it  was  originated 


16  Pre-IIistoric  Nations. 

— dwelling  apart  from  what  we  call  history,  as  if  China 
were  a  world  by  itself. 

At  the  West  arose  another  civilization,  that  seems  to  have 
originated  somewhere  near  the  waters  of  the  Persian  Gulf 

O 

and  Indian  Ocean.  Unlike  the  Chinese  in  character  and 
history,  it  was  enterprising ;  it  went  forth  into  the  world ; 
it  established  communication  with  all  peoples  within  its 
roach;  it  colonized  and  occupied  other  lands;  its  influence 
IH  r;ime  paramount  "from  the  extremity  of  the  East  to  the 
extremity  of  the  West ;"  it  changed  its  seat  from  nation  to 
nation,  ever  developing,  more  and  more,  a  wonderful  power 
of  life;  it  created  India  and  Egypt;  its  light  was  kindled 
all  around  the  Mediterranean;  and,  finally,  by  way  of 
Western  Europe,  it  travelled  to  America,  where  it  seems 
likely  to  have  its  widest  and  richest  development. 

It  is  not  in  our  power  to  explain  with  certainty  those 
primitive  groupings  of  mankind  which  determined  the  ori- 
gin of  diverse  races,  and  created  distinct  families  of  lan- 
guage. The  diverse  races  exist,  although,  at  the  present 
time,  there  are  not  anywhere  on  the  face  of  the  globe  many 
communities  where  any  original  race  is  found  entirely  free 
from  mixture  with  some  other;  and  the  separate  families 
of  language  exist,  so  radically  and  absolutely  unlike  that 
we  find  it  impossible  to  believe  they  all  proceeded  from  a 
common  source.  The  essential  unity  of  mankind  in  all  the 
peculiar  characteristics  of  humanity  is  an  incontestable 
fact  which  cannot  be  affected  by  any  differences  of  race 
or  language.  Whatever  theory  denies  this  fact,  or  makes 
it  uncertain,  is  false  to  human  nature,  as  it  appears  and 
speaks  for  itself  in  every  race  and  in  every  language.  This 
is  not  questioned  by  those  who  attempt  to  solve  the  prob- 
lem by  adopting  the  hypothesis  that  the  human  race  came 


Hebrew  Tradition  concerning  Three  Races.     17 

into  existence,  originally,  at  different  points  on  the  earth, 
by  simultaneous  or  successive  creations,  each  primordial 
group  being  the  source  of  a  separate  race  and  a  separate 
family  of  languages. 

Those  primeval  traditions  of  the  Hebrews,  which  Moses 
deemed  truthful  and  worthy  of  record  in  the  sacred  books 
of  his  nation,  relate  almost  entirely  to  the  Semitic,  Cush- 
ite,  and  Aryan  families,  which,  on  any  hypothesis,  must 
have  had  a  common  origin.  Their  languages  constitute 
three  distinct  families,  for  linguistic  scholars  are  making 
the  discovery  that  the  Cushite  tongues  are  a  family  by 
themselves,  although  they  more  closely  resemble  the  Se- 
mitic language  than  that  of  the  Aryan  race.  Neither  of 
these  families  differs  from  the  others  as  they  all  differ  from 
the  Chinese.  Between  these  three  races  there  is  no  physi- 
ological difference  whatever ;  and  their  differences  in  other 
respects  are  not  so  great  as  to  exclude  entirely  the  possi- 
bility of  their  having  issued  from  a  common  primordial 
source,  and  separated  in  the  early  infancy  of  their  first  di- 
alects. They  have  played  connected  parts  in  the  work  of 
human  development ;  and  now  the  Aryan  race,  enriched 
with  the  acquisitions  of  their  combined  influence,  seems 
destined  to  possess  and  rule  the  whole  planet  on  which  we 
live. 

The  Cushite  race  appeared  first  in  the  work  of  civiliza- 
tion. That  this  has  not  always  been  distinctly  perceived 
is  due  chiefly  to  the  fact  that  the  first  grand  ages  of  that 
race  are  so  distant  from  us  in  time,  so  far  beyond  the  great 
nations  of  antiquity  commonly  mentioned  in  our  ancient 
histories,  that  their  most  indelible  traces  have  long  been 
too  much  obscured  by  the  waste  of  time  to  be  readily  com- 
prehended by  superficial  observation.  In  the  earliest  Pie- 


18  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

brew  traditions,  older  probably  than  Abraham,  and  imme- 
diately connected  with  a  description  of  the  "  land  of  Eden," 
where  "  the  Lord  God  planted  a  garden"  for  Adam,  Cush 
(translated  Ethiopia)  is  mentioned  as  a  country  or  geo- 
graphical division  of  the  earth;  the  Hebrews  saw  nothing 
geographical  more  ancient  than  this  land  of  Cush.  In  the 
tenth  chapter  of  Genesis,  the  names  recorded  are  professed- 
ly used,  for  the  most  part,  as  ethnical  and  geographical  des- 
ignations ;  but  this  ethnical  geography  of  Genesis,  which, 
excepting  the  interpolations,  was  probably  more  ancient 
than  even  the  Hebrews  themselves  understood,  must  be  re- 
ferred to  a  period  anterior  to  that  great  immigration  of 
Cushites  from  Arabia  into  the  valley  of  Mesopotamia,  the 
primeval  home  of  the  Semites,  which  brought  civilization 
and  gave  existence  to  the  old  cities  of  Chaldea. 

It  seems  to  me  impossible  for  any  free-minded  scholar 
to  study  the  traditions,  mythologies,  fragmentary  records, 
mouldering  monuments,  and  other  remains  of  the  pre-his- 
toric  ages,  and  fail  to  see  that  the  people  described  in  the 
Hebrew  Scriptures  as  Cushites  were  the  original  civilizers 
of  Southwestern  Asia ;  and  that,  in  the  deepest  antiquity, 
their  influence  was  established  in  nearly  all  the  coast  re- 
gions, from  the  extreme  east  to  the  extreme  west  of  the  Old 
"World.  This  has  been  repeatedly  pointed  out  with  more 
or  less  clearness,  and  it  is  one  of  those  incontestable  facts 
that  must  be  accepted.  In  nearly  all  the  recorded  investi- 
gations of  scholars  for  the  last  two  centuries,  it  has  ap- 
peared among  those  half-seen  facts  which  dogmatic  criticism 
could  treat  as  fancies  without  troubling  itself  to  explain 
them.  It  could  not  be  otherwise ;  for,  to  see  and  fully 
comprehend  the  significance  of  Cushitc  antiquity,  we  must 
have  greater  freedom  in  the  matter  of  chronology,  and  a 


Conservatism  of  "  Orthodox"  Scholarship.       19 

more  accurate  perception  of  the  historic  importance  of  Ara- 
bia, than  have  usually  appeared  in  such  investigations. 
Neither  Usher's  chronology,  nor  the  little  country  known 
to  the  Greeks  and  Romans  as  Phoenicia,  will  suffice  to  ex- 
plain that  mighty  and  wide-spread  influence  of  the  Cushite 
race  in  human  affairs,  whose  traces  are  still  visible  from 
Farther  India  to  Norway. 

Here,  as  well  as  everywhere  else  in  the  advancement  of 
learning  from  the  old  to  the  new,  from  the  explored  to  the 
unexplored,  the  investigator  must  settle  his  relations  with 
the  professional  conservatism  of  what  passes  current  as 
"  orthodox"  scholarship.  This  conservatism,  like  all  other 
conservatisms,  has  its  eminent  oracles,  whose  influence  is 
too  frequently  allowed  to  limit  inquiry  and  shape  its  re- 
sults. It  is  less  malignant  than  some  other  conservatisms, 
but  no  less  self-assured,  and  no  less  ready  to  chastise  bold 
inquiry.  In  the  history  of  mankind,  it  has  been  common 
to  see  wig  mistaken  for  wisdom,  while  authority  usurped 
the  place  of  reason ;  but  nothing  else  has  the  force  of  truth ; 
it  r-.ny  wait  for  recognition,  like  Boucher  do  Perthes  on  the 
field  of  geological  science,  and,  while  waiting,  be  rudely 
treated  as  a  visionary ;  yet  it  will  surely  sweep  all  obstruc- 
tions out  of  its  way,  and  constrain  the  oracles  to  pronounce 
in  its  favor. 

The  influence  of  what  is  accepted  as  "  orthodox"  learning 
sometimes  deals  very  summarily  with  both  the  work  and 
the  reputation  of  venturesome  innovators,  who  flout  its  or- 
acles, question  its  wisdom,  criticise  its  methods,  and  under- 
take to  show  that  important  additions  can  be  made  to  its 
stock  of  knowledge.  Controversies  with  such  all-wise  con- 
servatism, however,  are  incident  to  all  inquiry  by  which 
progress  is  maintained.  Each  profession  instinctively  dis- 


-20  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

allows  and  resists  any  interference  with  its  established 
creed,  and  becomes  a  castle  where  the  old  is  vigorously 
defended  against  the  new.  So  it  is  in  theology,  in  law,  in 
politics,  in  medicine,  in  science  of  every  kind,  and  in  every 
department  of  learning.  "We  can  not  reasonably  expect 
our  archaeological  and  historical  studies  to  escape  this  in- 
fluence ;  nor  should  we  very  much  desire  it.  If  conserva- 
tism needs  movement,  innovation  needs  to  adjust  its  rela- 
tions with  whatever  truth  is  already  established.  The  in- 
novator proceeds  by  means  of  the  sharpest  methods  of 
criticism;  therefore  he  can  afford  to  endure  criticism. 
Soon  or  late,  whatever  investigations  sweep  away  venera- 
ble rubbish  and  open  the  way  to  progress  in  knowledge 
will  enforce  their  claim  to  respectful  consideration;  and 
nowhere  is  this  surer  to  be  realized  than  among  enlight- 
ened scholars,  where  no  ardor  of  feeling  can  become  fanat- 
icism, nor  any  prejudice  or  pride  of  opinion  be  transformed 
into  cureless  bigotry. 

One  purpose  of  this  volume  is  to  point  out  what  may  be 
known  of  the  ancient  Cushite  people,  and  of  the  great  part 
they  played  in  developing  and  spreading  civilization.  In 
doing  this,  it  becomes  necessary  to  criticise  and  discredit 
some  influential  theories,  speculations,  and  methods  of  in- 
vestigation, which  I  find  to  be  obstructions  in  the  path  of 
inquiry;  and  also  to  show  that  Usher's  chronology  is  a 
very  false  measure  of  the  past,  that  the  antiquity  of  the 
human  race  is  much  greater  than  he  supposed,  and  that 
there  can  be  no  intelligent  study  of  antiquity  where  his  or 
any  similar  scheme  of  chronology,  or  any  other  dogmatic 
falsification  of  the  past,  is  allowed  to  paralyze  inquiry  and 
dictate  conclusions. 

I  do  not  write  for  learned  archaeologists.     They  havo 


The  Aim  of  this  Work.  21 

written  for  me.  It  is  possible,  however,  that  those  most 
deeply  learned  in  archaeology  and  the  science  of  language 
may  find  in  this  volume  suggestions  worthy  of  their  at- 
tention. Perhaps  it  will  enable  them  to  discover  a  more 
satisfactory  solution  of  certain  ethnical  and  linguistic  prob- 
lems with  which  they  are  familiar.  It  can  hardly  fail  to 
do  this  if  it  shall  succeed  in  convincing  them  that  the 
original  Ethiopia  was  not  in  Africa,  and  that  the  ancient 
home  of  the  Cushites  or  Ethiopians,  the  starting-point  of 
their  great  colonizing  and  civilizing  movements,  was  Ara- 
bia. I  do  not  write  for  historical  skeptics.  Their  use  of 
reason  is  so  poor  and  their  credulity  so  great,  when  they 
deal  with  antiquity,  that  no  common  influence  is  likely  to 
break  the  spell  that  makes  them  incapable  of  looking  wise- 
ly into  the  past,  and  studying  pre-historic  times  with  any 
hope  of  enlightenment.  Their  habit  of  accepting  prepos- 
terous and  monstrous  absurdities,  in  order  to  deny  the  his- 
torical significance  of  myths  and  traditions,  and  discredit 
the  discoveries  of  linguistic  and  archaeological  science,  must 
be  left  to  play  out  its  comedy  without  interference. 

Others,  whose  interest  in  these  studies  may  be  stimula- 
ted anew,  or  for  the  first  time  awakened,  by  reading  this 
work,  will  perhaps  desire  to  pursue  the  subject  in  a  more 
minute  and  elaborate  way.  If  so,  they  can  find  in  the 
works  of  German,  Danish,  French,  and  English  explorers 
and  scholars  abundant  materials  to  aid  investigation ;  and 
in  the  department  of  linguistic  science,  which  in  these  in- 
quiries is  of  the  highest  importance,  there  are  very  valua- 
ble works  by  several  American  scholars,  such  as  Whitney, 
Marsh,  and  others.  On  looking  over  what  I  have  written, 
I  find  that  I  have  criticised  many  of  the  linguistic  and  arch- 
aeological theories  of  that  eminent  and  accomplished  inves- 


22  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

tigator,  Ernest  Renan,  without  properly  expressing  my 
sense  of  his  great  services  in  these  departments  of  science. 
If  his  works  relating  to  the  subjects  I  discuss  were  not  so 
rich  and  attractive,  or  if  his  style  of  writing  were  not  so 
perspicuous  and  eloquent,  it  may  be  that  I  should  have 
given  him  less  attention. 


n. 

PRELIMINARY  SUGGESTIONS  CONCERNING  THE  CURRENT 
CHRONOLOGIES,  THE  RELATION  OF  HELLAS  TO  CIVILIZA- 
TION, AND  THE  MEANING  OF  PRE-HISTORIC  TIMES. 

HTJMBOLDT  says  in  his  Cosmos, "  What  we  usually  term 
the  beginning  of  history  is  only  the  period  when  the  later 
generations  awoke  to  self-consciousness."  It  requires  an 
enlightened  view  of  the  past  and  considerable  mental  free- 
dom to  see  and  accept  what  this  signifies;  but  the  ten- 
dency of  scientific  studies  at  the  present  time  is  to  make 
it  clear  and  establish  it  as  a  commonly  accepted  truth. 
Our  studies  of  Ancient  History  have  been  embarrassed  by 
two  strong  but  not  very  wise  influences — a  false  chronol- 
ogy, and  a  false  estimate  of  the  Hellenic  people  in  their  re- 
lation to  civilization.  These  influences  have  been  sup- 
ported until  lately  by  the  theological  training  and  the 
scholarship  of  modern  times,  and  they  have  mutually  sup- 
ported each  other;  for  those  who  maintain  that  enlight- 
ened civilization  began  in  Hellas  very  easily  accept  the 
rabbinical  notion  that  man  was  created  only  about  4000 
or  5000  years  previous  to  the  Christian  Era,  while  those 
who  uphold  this  unwarranted  system  of  chronology  very 
readily  accept  the  belief  that  mankind  did  not  get  far  away 
from  barbarism  previous  to  the  literary  and  artistic  devel- 
opment that  brightened  Athens.  It  is  impossible  to  think 
correctly  of  the  past,  or  to  comprehend  the  testimony  of 
its  monuments,  where  these  views  are  received  as  infallible 


24  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

oracles  and  allowed  to  regulate  investigation ;  therefore  it 
seems  necessary  to  make  them  the  subject  of  a  few  prelim- 
inary observations. 

THE   CURRENT  CHRONOLOGIES. 

Rollin,  writing  Ancient  History,  and  giving  his  view  of 
the  time  and  greatness  of  Ninns  and  Semiramis,  whom  lie 
described  as  the  immediate  successors  of  the  first  founder 
of  the  Assyrian  empire,  made  this  confession ;  "I  must  own 
that  I  am  somewhat  puzzled  by  a  difficulty  that  may  be 
raised  against  the  extraordinary  things  related  of  Ninus 
and  Semiramis,  as  they  do  not  seem  to  agree  with  times  so 
near  the  Deluge ;  I  mean  such  immense  armies,  such  a  nu- 
merous cavalry,  and  such  vast  treasures  of  gold  and  silver, 
all  of  which  seem  to  be  of  later  date."  According  to  Rol- 
lin's  chronology,  the  Assyrian  empire  began  its  great  career 
2234  years  before  Christ,  or  about  115  years  after  the  Del- 
uge, and  235  years  previous  to  the  death  of  Noah.  The 
Hebrew  Scriptures  inform  us  that  "  Noah  lived  after  the 
flood  three  hundred  and  fifty  years."  Rollin  never  doubt- 
ed this  record,  and  did  not  revise  his  chronology.  There- 
fore he  must  have  believed  (although  he  carefully  avoided 
saying  so)  that  Noah  outlived  the  founders  of  that  empire, 
and  saw  its  progress  and  grandeur  during  more  than  two 
centuries.  It  is  not  surprising  that  he  was  puzzled  by 
chronological  difficulties.  His  system  afforded  no  relief 
from  them.  It  is  true  that  in  writing  of  Ninus  and  Semir- 
amis he  followed  that  ready  fabler,  the  Carian  physician 
Ctesias.  The  first  princes  of  the  celebrated  Assyrian  mon- 
archy lived  nearly  a  thousand  years  later.  The  great  em- 
pire existing  in  that  part  of  Asia  at  the  date  given  by 
Rollin  was  Chaldean ;  but  there  is  nothing  in  this  to  re- 


Chronological  Embarrassments.  25 

move  his  perplexity,  and  later  researches  afford  it  no  relief, 
for  it  is  now  certain  that  there  were  great  monarchies  in 
Asia  much  older  than  the  year  2234  B.C. 

Such  embarrassments  as  that  felt  by  Rollin  multiply  as 
we  increase  our  knowledge  of  ancient  times  by  a  more  care- 
ful study  of  the  mythologies  and  traditions  of  the  ancients, 
by  investigating  the  monumental  records  of  the  older  na- 
tions, by  exploring  the  oldest  ruins  (the  oldest  now,  be- 
cause others  that  were  much  older  have  gone  to  dust),  by 
comprehending  the  great  revelations  of  linguistic  science, 
and  by  searching  intelligently  the  memorials  of  past  time 
presented  in  the  discoveries  of  geology.  The  absurd  chro- 
nology by  which  they  are  created,  not  capable  of  serving 
as  a  guide,  becomes  an  obstruction  that  must  be  removed. 

O  t 

Could  we  have  the  literary  records  of  all  the  pre-historic 
nations,  or  even  the  lost  libraries  of  the  Phcenicians,  Chal- 
deans, and  Egyptians,  its  most  confident  supporters  would 
become  ashamed  to  urge  its  claim  to  respect,  and  scholars 
everywhere  would  hasten  to  disown  the  absurdities  it  has 
introduced  into  Ancient  History.  As  it  is,  enough  is  known, 
without  calling  in  the  testimony  of  geology,  to  show  that 
the  period  between  the  creation  of  man  and  the  birth  of 
Christ  is  much  longer  than  any  of  the  current  chronologies 
are  able  to  measure. 

I  can  not  wonder  at  the  amazement,  trepidation,  and 
even  rage  with  which  some  of  the  dogmatic  chronologists 
behold  the  revelations  of  geology.  My  purpose,  however, 
does  not  require  an  appeal  to  what  geology  says  of  the  an- 
tiquity of  man.  It  is  manifest,  without  such  aid,  that  the 
time  between  the  beginning  of  the  human  race  and  the 
Christian  Era  may  have  been,  as  Bunsen  maintained  in  his 
work  on  Egypt,  five  times  4004  years,  and  even  much  lon- 

B 


26  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

ger  than  Bunsen  supposed.  The  great  past  was  certainly 
long  enough  for  all  that  human  existence  and  activity  iu 
pro-historic  ages  of  which  so  many  traces  are  found.  There 
is  nothing  to  require,  indicate,  or  suggest  that  the  current 
chronologies  should  be  treated  with  the  smallest  degree  of 
respect,  while,  on  the  other  hand,  there  is  much  that  de- 
mands for  the  pre-historic  ages  "the  longest  measure  intel- 
ligent inquiry  has  ever  proposed. 

The  business  of  constructing  systems  of  "biblical"  chro- 
nology has  furnished  employment  for  a  large  amount  of 
learned  ingenuity  which  otherwise  might  have  been  led  to 
•write  great  folios  on  the  word  "  Selah"  in  the  Psalms,  or 
to  expound  the  natural  history  of  ancient  giants,  or  to  in- 
terpret in  a  very  marvelous  way  the  prophetic  mysteries 
of  the  Apocalypse.  It  has  been  chiefly  the  work  of  monks 
and  rabbins,  and  its  relation  to  historical  science  is  very 
much  like  that  of  conjuring  astrology  to  the  science  of  as- 
tronomy. But  it  is  not  wholly  useless.  It  has  undoubt- 
edly furnished  many  satisfactions  to  those  whose  calling 
did  not  afford  a  more  profitable  occupation  for  intellectual 
activity,  or  whose  learning  had  not  introduced  them  to  a 
more  enlightened  study  of  antiquity.  The  authority  of 
what  is  falsely  called  "  biblical"  chronology  is  no  longer 
very  potent.  It  can  not  maintain  itself  against  that  prog- 
ress of  science  which  constantly  increases  our  knowledge 
of  the  past.  It  must  soon  disappear,  and  take  its  place  in 
the  rubbish  of  the  ages  with  other  legendary  absui-dities 
which  in  their  time  dishonored  religion,  oppressed  the  hu- 
man intellect,  and  misled  honest  people  by  claiming  im- 
mortal reverence. 

Any  system  of  chronology  that  places  the  creation  of 
man  only  about  4000  or  5000  years  previous  to  the  birth 


The  Bible  misused  and  falsified.  27 

of  Christ  is  a  mere  invention,  a  scholastic  fancy,  an  elab- 
orate absurdity.  There  is  nothing  to  warrant  it,  and  not 
much  to  excuse  it.  Those  who  profess  to  find  it  in  the 
Bible  misuse  and  falsify  that  book.  We  may  as  well  seek 
in  the  Bible  for  a  perfected  science  of  astronomy  or  chem- 
istry. It  is  not  there ;  and  no  such  chronological  scheme 
ever  grew  out  of  scientific  inquiry.  Moreover,  there  is  a 
remarkable  want  of  harmony  among  those  who  have  con- 
structed such  schemes.  The  various  systems  of  "biblical" 
chronology  claiming  attention  are  at  variance  among  them- 
selves. According  to  the  Jewish  rabbins,  man  was  created 
3761  years  before  Christ ;  the  Greek  and  Armenian  church- 
es have  been  taught  to  say  5509  years;  Eusebius  said 
5200  ;  Panadoras,  a  learned  Egyptian  monk,  having  solved 
the  problem  with  great  care  and  exactness  of  demonstra- 
tion, said  5493 ;  we  and  the  nations  of  "Western  Europe 
have  followed  Usher,  a  romancing  archbishop  of  Ar- 
magh, who  maintained,  with  great  particularity  of  dog- 
matic demonstration,  that  the  human  race  began  to  exist 
on  earth  precisely  4004  years  before  Christ;  others  have 
argued,  with  ingenuity  quite  as  marvelous,  to  establish  the 
validity  of  figures  different  from  any  of  these. 

In  all  these  attempts  to  construct  systems  of  "biblical" 
chronology,  nothing  is  more  apparent  than  utter  lack  of 
scientific  method  and  purpose.  The  aim  has  been,  not  to 
discover  facts,  allow  their  influence,  and  accept  the  result, 
but  to  compel  facts  to  harmonize  with  a  preconceived  the- 
ory and  support  given  conclusions.  A  point  has  been  as- 
sumed in  the  past  beyond  which  the  date  of  man's  first 
appearance  on  earth  must  not  be  carried ;  and  this  assump- 
tion, not  having  the  support  of  science,  has  feloniously 
sought  that  of  revelation.  Thus  chronological  dogmatism 


28  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

has  perpetrated  an  atrocious  outrage  on  the  Bible  by  im- 
piously claiming  for  itself  the  reverence  due  to  religion. 
Even  learned  and  religious  men  have  sought  to  identify 
this  false  chronology  with  Christianity  itself,  and  have  pur- 
sued their  investigations  of  antiquity  with  a  purpose,  de- 
liberately expressed,  to  force  every  fact  of  science,  and  ev- 
ery date  of  ancient  history,  to  agree  with  it.  Maurice's 
"Indian  Antiquities,"  and  his  "Ancient  History  of  Hindu- 
stan," are  valuable  works.  They  were  first  published  about 
eighty  years  ago,  but  no  one  can  read  them  now  without 
respect  for  the  author's  learning  and  ability;  yet  the  style 
in  which  he  upheld  this  dogmatism  of  the  "  biblical"  chro- 
nologists  is  nowise  likely  to  be  imitated  at  the  present  time 
by  any  scholar  having  the  same  enthusiasm  for  archaeolog- 
ical researches.  In  his  preface  to  the  "Antiquities"  he 
wrote  thus : 

"  The  daring  assertions  of  certain  skeptical  French  phi- 
losophers with  respect  to  the  age  of  the  world  (whose  ar- 
guments I  have  attempted  to  refute — arguments  founded 
principally  on  the  high  assumptions  of  the  Brahmins  and 
other  Eastern  nations  in  point  of  chronology  and  astrono- 
my), could  their  extravagant  claims  be  substantiated,  would 
have  a  direct  tendency  to  overturn  the  Mosaic  system,  and 
with  it  Christianity."  In  his  first  volume  of  the  "His- 
tory," on  page  276, he  renewed  the  subject  as  follows:  "I 
am  not  inclined  violently  to  dispute  any  positions  on  this 
head  (chronology)  that  do  not  tend  to  subvert  the  Mosaic 
chronology,  and  I  am  decidedly  for  allowing  the  Eastern  his- 
torians, as  a  privilege,  the  utmost  latitude  of  the  Septuagint 
chronology.  It  is  not  for  a  century  or  two,  more  or  less, 
that  we  wage  the  contest  with  infidelity,  but  we  cannot  al- 
low of  thousands  and  millions  being  thrown  into  the  scale." 


A  Crime  against  Christianity.  29 

There  was  a  time  when  it  was  deemed  a  sacred  and  in- 
contestable proposition  that  Hebrew,  given  by  miraculous 
inspiration,  was  the  original  language  of  mankind,  and  the 
primeval  mother  of  all  other  languages.  To  assume,  as  a 
vital  thing  in  religion,  that  linguistic  inquiry  must  not  be 
allowed  to  show  any  thing  contrary  to  this  proposition, 
would  be  just  as  rational  as  this  violent  assumption  of 
Maurice  in  behalf  of  what  he  calls  the  "  Mosaic"  system  of 
chronology;  and  yet  with  what  lordly  arrogance  of  au- 
thority his  "Mosaic"  system  was  set  forth  !  It  would  con- 
descendingly allow  its  own  largest  limits  "  as  a  privilege," 
but  facts  must  take  care  to  exist  in  submissive  accordance 
with  its  permission,  or  they  would  be  treated  as  infidel 
heresies,  for  inquiry  can  have  no  legitimate  aim  but  to  show 
its  infallibility ! 

What  crimes  against  Christianity  have  been  committed 
by  some  of  its  zealous  friends !  and  not  the  least  of  these 
crimes  is  that  which  makes  it  responsible  for  such  follies 
as  this.  Nothing  can  be  more  unwarranted  than  to  assume 
that  any  scheme  of  chronology  is  "  Mosaic"  or  "  biblical ;" 
nor  does  it  seem  possible  to  do  infidelity  a  greater  service 
than  to  use  Christianity  as  the  antagonist  of  honest  inquiry 
and  intelligent  progress  in  knowledge,  or  to  talk  as  if  she 
were  not  sufficiently  great  and  comprehensive  to  wear  her 
crown  of  glory  in  presence  of  any  development  of  science 
or  any  progress  of  civilization.  Modern  astronomical  dis- 
coveries were  at  first  treated  as  grave  heresies  that  should 
be  suppressed  by  the  Inquisition.  Geology,  the  most  rev- 
erent of  sciences,  has  been  treated  as  an  infidel.  It  is  not 
surprising  that  discoveries  relating  to  pre-histofic  times, 
which  set  aside  the  current  chronologies,  have  encountered 
similar  criticism ;  but  it  would  be  very  surprising  if  this 


30  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

unchristian  dogmatism  could  maintain  itself  anywhere 
much  longer.  At  any  rate,  truth  is  not  discovered  by  such 
methods  as  that  indicated  by  Maurice. 

There  are  many  considerations  which  should  have  check- 
ed the  confidence  with  which  dogmatic  chronology  has 
limited  and  falsified  the  past.  The  origin  of  nearly  every- 
thing in  our  civilization  is  lost  in  the  obscurity  of  ages  that 
go  back  far  beyond  the  oldest  historic  period.  The  arts 
of  writing,  building,  spinning,  weaving,  mining,  and  work- 
ing metals — in  a  word,  nearly  all  the  arts  and  appliances 
of  civilized  life,  came  to  us  from  pre-historic  times.  They 
were  brought  to  Europe  chiefly  by  the  people  known  in 
history  as  Phoenicians,  or  through  their  agency;  but,  as  I 
have  already  stated,  neither  history  nor  tradition  can  tell 
us  when  or  where  they  originated.  Evidence  of  the  riches 
and  magnificence  they  had  created  in  very  remote  ages 
abounds  in  the  records,  mins,  and  other  remains  of  antiq- 
uity,  but  neither  Chaldea  nor  Egypt  could  give  a  clear  ac- 
count of  their  beginnings  and  early  history.  One  thing, 
however,  is  certain :  they  indicate  the  existence,  in  pre-his- 
toric times  beyond  the  reach  of  tradition,  not  only  of  civil- 
ized communities  and  nations,  but  also  of  long  periods  of 
civilized  life ;  and  they  give  special  significance  to  such 
statements  of  the  old  writers  as  the  following  from  Diodo- 
rus  Siculus :  "  Asia  was  anciently  governed  by  its  own  na- 
tive kings,  of  whom  there  is  no  history  extant,  either  as  to 
any  memorable  actions  they  performed,  or  so  much  as  their 
names."  He  says  this  at  the  beginning  of  his  account  of 
Nimis,  and  applies  it  to  the  ages  preceding  Nineveh  and 
Babylon! 

The  great  antiquity  of  some  of  the  sciences  is  incontesta- 
ble. If  there  were  no  monumental  records  of  ancient  Chal- 


Antiquity  of  Civilization  and  Science.         31 

dea,  Egypt,  Arabia,  and  India,  we  should  still  have  convinc- 
ing evidence  of  their  great  attainments  in  that  knowledge 
which  was  "  the  excellency  of  the  Chaldees"  and  "  the  wis- 
dom of  the  Egyptians ;"  Euclid,  an  Egyptian,  would  still 
bo  recognised  as  one  of  the  foremost  writers  on  geometry, 
and  we  should  find  it  necessary  to  refer  the  origin  of  the 
science  to  an  age  more  ancient  than  the  oldest  date  of  even 
Egyptian  chronology.  At  the  same  time,  it  could  be  shown 
by  authentic  quotations  from  the  literary  remains  of  antiq- 
uity that  some  of  the  scholars  of  Ionia,  which  preceded 
Hellas  in  civilization,  taught  by  the  Phrenicians,  Egyptians, 
and  Chaldeans,  had  a  knowledge  of  astronomy  and  of  other 
sciences  that  was  not  retained  by  the  scholars  of  Hellas, 
and  seems  to  have  disappeared  from  the  Grecian  world  with 
the  disciples  of  Pythagoras. 

The  most  ancient  peoples  of  antiquity,  at  the  earliest  pe- 
riods in  wrhich  we  can  see  and  study  them,  show  us  that 
civilization  was  older  than  their  time.  It  is  apparent  in 
their  architecture,  in  the  varied  possessions  and  manifesta- 
tions of  their  civilized  life,  in  their  riches  and  magnificence, 
and  in  the  splendor  of  their  temples  and  royal  palaces,  that 
they  had  many  of  the  arts  and  sciences,  which  we  deem 
modern.  Meanwhile,  we  can  not  easily  deny  their  great  at- 
tainments in  astronomy,  in  presence  of  the  general  admis- 
sion that  the  sphere  filled  with  constellations,  and  the  zodi- 
ac with  its  twelve  signs,  are  at  least  as  old  as  the  Chal- 
deans. Humboldt,  stating  the  result  of  inquiry  on  this 
point,  says :  "  The  division  of  the  ecliptic  into  twelve  parts 
originated  with  the  ancient  Chaldeans."  They  had  the  zo- 
diac, and  gave  it  to  the  Western  countries.  So  much  is  eas- 
ily seen.  But  the  Chaldeans  themselves  may  have  received 
the  zodiac  from  the  more  ancient  civilizers  of  their  country. 


32  Pre-IIistoric  Nations. 

During  the  present  century,  much  has  been  added  to  our 
knowledge  of  the  past  by  exploration  in  the  ruins  of  Egypt 
and  Chaldea.  The  researches  in  Egypt  have  given  us  datrs 
as  authentic  as  the  monuments  themselves,  which  confound 
the  current  chronologies,  and  open  the  past  to  our  view 
somewhat  as  the  discoveries  of  Columbus  opened  the  world 
to  the  geographers  of  modern  Europe.  It  is  now  as  cer- 
tain as  anything  else  in  ancient  history  that  Egypt  ex^ud 
as  a  civilized  country  not  less  than  5000  years  earlier  than 
the  birth  of  Christ.  The  monumental  and  sepulchral  rec- 
ords of  that  country,  marvelously  abundant,  have  substan- 
tially confirmed  Manetho's  history  of  Egypt.  There  w:is 
never  any  good  reason  for  doubting  the  correctness  of  his 
dynastic  list,  as  prepared  by  himself.  He  was  an  Egyptian 
of  great  learning  and  wisdom;  he  wrote  with  the  libraries 
and  monuments  of  Egypt  "before  him ;  his  dates  are  as  au- 
thentic as  those  of  any  other  historian ;  and  the  only  ob- 
jection to  them,  of  any  account,  comes  from  the  dogmatism 
of  that  false  chronology  which  assumes  with  oracular  con- 
fidence that  the  past  has  not  room  for  such  dates.  We 
meet  here,  much  less  awful  than  formerly,  the  same  blind 
arrogance  of  old  prejudice  that  could  see  nothing  but  here- 
sy in  the  astronomical  discoveries  of  Galileo.  But  prejudice 
is  not  reason ;  false  chronology  is  neither  science  nor  ivlig- 
ion  ;  and  the  lesson  of  every  age  is,  that  sure  defeat  awaits 
those  who  forbid  progress  in  knowledge,  and  employ  against 
it  the  menaces  of  any  tribunal  of  intolerance. 

The  magnificent  discoveries  in  Egypt,  by  confirming 
Manetho's  history,  have  seriously  troubled  this  dogmatism. 
How  can  it  allow  that  Menes,  who  first  united  all  Egypt 
under  one  government,  began  his  reign  not  less  than  3893 
years  previous  to  the  Christian  Era?  And  where  can  it 


Egypt  and  the  Chronologists.  33 

find  respectable  logic  to  discredit  such  dates  against  the 
evidence  by  which  they  are  supported  ?  It  is  amusing  to 
observe  the  effect  of  these  discoveries  on  certain  eminent 
and  admirable  English  scholars  who  have  given  much  at- 
tention to  studies  of  this  kind,  one  of  them  being  an  accom- 
plished Egyptologist.  They  cannot  deny  the  facts,  and 
have  no  inclination  to  deny  them ;  but  their  Oxford  and 
English  Church  associations  seem  to  have  interfered  to 
prevent  a  frank  acceptance  of  the  incontestable  antiquity 
of  the  Old  Monarchy  of  Egypt.  For  a  time  they  sought 
to  reconcile  it  with  the  current  chronology  which  orthodox 
churchmen  hold  in  great  reverence.  When  this  became 
impossible,  and  compelled  their  acknowledgment  of  the  im- 
possibility, they  adopted  silence  as  the  best  policy  under 
the  circumstances,  intimating  that  they  could  not  solve 
this  Egyptian  problem  in  a  satisfactory  manner.  Meaner 
men  can  sneer,  deny  violently,  falsify  the  record,  and,  with 
godless  infatuation,  denounce  the  whole  investigation  as 
"business  fit  only  for  infidels."  Christianity  must  be  di- 
vine, for  it  is  able  to  survive  the  championship  of  these 
meaner  men. 

It  will  not  be  questioned  that  blind  reverence  for  this 
false  method  of  chronology  has  been  very  powerful  to  dis- 
credit facts  and  dates  against  which  there  could  be  no  val- 
id argument,  solely  on  the  ground  that  they  seemed  disas- 
trous to  its  authority.  It  has  controlled  the  judgment  of 
learned  and  conscientious  men  more  than  they  could  admit 
to  themselves — more  than  will  seem  credible  a  few  centu- 
ries hence,  when  its  character  will  be  explained  chiefly  by 
recollection  of  its  absurdities.  It  comes  into  every  archaeo- 
logical investigation,  to  mislead  inquiry  and  hide  the  true 
explanation  of  every  fact  that  implies  great  antiquity,  too 

B2 


34:  P re-Historic  Nations. 

frequently  sure  of  success  because  it  has  been  incorporated 
with  the  investigator's  thought  and  imagination  from  the 

o  o  o 

moment  when  he  began  to  think  and  acquire  knowledge. 
Its  influence  grows  weaker  every  day,  and  yet  those  who 
are  sufficiently  free  in  thought  to  disregard  it  entirely  fre- 
quently find  it  moving  them  to  utter  apologies  for  doing  so. 

A  free-minded  and  accomplished  archaeologist,  speaking 
of  the  dates  furnished  by  the  chronology  of  Egypt  (Revue 
des  Deux  Mondes,  tome  Ivi.,  p.  666),  says:  "I  know  how 
appalling  these  figures  are,  and  what  grave  apprehensions 
they  awaken.  I  have  shared  these  apprehensions ;  but 
what  can  we  do  against  the  concurring  lists  furnished  by 
Manetho,  Eratosthenes,  the  Turin  papyrus,  and  the  Egyp- 
tian tablets  of  Abydos,  Thebes,  and  Sakkara  ?"  This  tone 
of  apology  may  have  some  good  use,  perhaps,  but  does  it 
express  anything  that  can  actually  be  found  in  his  own 
conviction  or  feeling  ?  Such  dates  can  alarm  nothing  but 
false  chronology,  for  which  he  cannot  feel  much  concern. 
Instead  of  being  hostile  to  any  thing  else  in  which  a  hu- 
man interest  is  possible,  they  are  friendly  and  full  of  satis- 
factions. 

It  seems  astonishing  that  the  authority  of  false  chronol- 
ogy should  ever  have  been  sufficient  to  secure  toleration 
for  some  of  the  absurdities  it  has  originated.  Take,  for  in- 
stance, its  very  surprising  representations  concerning  the 
time  of  Zoroaster.  It  was  necessary  to  recognise  Zoroas- 
ter as  a  real  personage,  representing  a  great  religious  epoch 
of  the  Iranian  people.  It  was  seen  that  all  accounts  of  him 
placed  the  time  of  his  appearance  far  back  in  the  past,  the 
Greeks  saying  that  he  lived  5000  years  before  the  Trojan 
War,  and  6000  years  before  the  death  of  Plato.  But  facts 
must  not  be  stubborn,  for  here,  as  everywhere  else,  the  cur- 


Absurdities  of  false  Chronology.  35 

rent  chronology,  being  supreme,  must  read  the  testimony 
and  construe  the  facts  in  its  own  way ;  therefore  it  was  as- 
sumed falsely  that  Zoroaster  lived  in  the  sixth  century  be- 
fore Christ,  during  the  reign  of  Darius  Hystaspes,  or  during 
that  of  his  father,  who,  as  we  know,  was  not  a  king,  and 
never  reigned  at  all  And  this  absurdity,  already  inex- 
pressible, was  heightened  by  a  miraculous  operation  of 
"  Mosaic"  zeal,  which  transformed  the  great  Iranian  teach- 
er into  a  Jew.  The  Rev.  Drs.  Hyde  and  Prideaux  (the 
former  in  his  "  Veterum  Persarum  et  Medorum  Religionis 
Historia,"  and  the  latter  in  his  "Connexions"),  with  sol- 
emn gravity  befitting  the  wonderful  announcement,  repre- 
sented Zoroaster  as  a  native  of  Palestine,  born  of  Jewish 
parents,  who  first  appeared  in  Persia  as  a  menial  servant 
in  the  families  of  Ezra  and  Daniel. 

Here  was  brilliancy  almost  equal  to  that  of  a  Rev.  Dr. 
Joshua  Barnes,  of  the  last  century,  who  published  an  elab- 
orate work  to  prove  that  Solomon  wrote  the  Iliad.*  It  is 
not  common  to  see  Zoroaster  transformed  into  a  Jew,  even 
by  those  who  refuse  to  see  that  he  lived  many  ages  before 
Abraham.  Even  a  hundred  and  seventy  years  ago,  when 
Dr.  Hyde  wrote,  not  many  "  biblical"  chronologists.  were 
"  Mosaic"  to  this  extent.  Anquetil  du  Perron,  and  others 
who  followed  him,  adhered  to  the  incongruous  chronologi- 
cal dicta  already  established,  although  larger  information 
should  have  qualified  them  to  apply  the  proper  criticism 
and  present  a  more  intelligent  view  of  Iranian  antiquity. 

*  Scientific  investigation  is  accustomed  to,  the,  remarkable  brilliancies 
of  this  kind  of  learned  acumen.  Dr,  Hitchcock  says  in  a  work  on  Geol- 
ogy :  "  Felix  Plater,  professor  of  anatomy  at  Basle,  referred  the  bones  of 
an  elephant  found  at  Lucerne  to  a  giant  afleast  19  feet  high,  and  in  En- 
gland similar  bones  were  regarded  as  those  of  the  fallen  angels ! " 


3(5  P re-Historic  Nations. 

According  to  the  Desatir,  the  Dabistan,  and  the  old  Ira- 
nian histories,  there  was  a  great  king  of  that  branch  of  the 
Aryan  people  known  as  Kai  Khusro,  who  was  a  prophet 
and  an  ascetic.  He  had  no  children,  and  after  "a  erlorious 

'  O 

reign  of  sixty  years"  he  abdicated  in  favor  of  a  subordinate 
prince  named  Lohorasp,  also  an  ascetic,  who,  after  a  long 
reign,  resigned  the  throne  to  his  son  Gushtasp.  It  was 
during  the  reign  of  Gushtasp  that  Zoroaster  appeared. 
Gushtasp  was  succeeded  by  Bahman,  his  grandson  ;  Bah- 
man  by  Darab,  who  was  slain  by  rebels ;  and  Darab  by  Se- 
kander,  who  restored  order  and  became  famous  in  Iranian 
history.  These  were  not  kings  of  Persia;  they  reigned  at 
Balkh,  and  lived  many  centuries  before  Persia  became  an 
independent  kingdom.  The  Desatir  calls  their  realm  the 
kingdom  of  Hiras,  and  their  people  the  Hirasis,  names  that 
seem  to  be  modifications  of  the  word  Arya. 

All  this  implied  that  the  time  of  Zoroaster  was  far  away 
iji  the  past.  The  current  chronologies  were  "  frightened" 
at  the  mention  of  its  possible  distance  from  us.  Such  an- 
tiquity must  be  disallowed ;  therefore  the  kingdom  of  Hi- 
ras was  transformed  into  the  kingdom  of  Persia,  Kai  Khus- 
ro into  Cyrus  the  Great,  and  Gushtasp  into  Darius  Hystas- 
pes  or  his  father.  And  why  was  this  done  ?  The  answer 
is, "  Because  this  period  is  less  subject  to  chronological  dif- 
ficulties than  many  others."  This  is  the  only  reason  that 
can  be  given  for  a  stupidity  that  is  wellnigh  matchless. 
The  chronological  system  used  does  not  allow  room  in  the 
past  for  the  true  period.  The  time  of  Darius  Hystaspes 
or  his  father  is  the  best  it  can  afford,  although  the  true  pe- 
riod may  have  been  several  millenniums  previous  to  that 
time.  It  was  certainly  many  ages  before  either  Media  or 
Persia  was  heard  of  as  a  distinct  nation.  The  kingdom  of 


Our  Chronologies  and  China.  37 

Hiras  belongs  to  remote  ages  previous  to  Babylon  and  As- 
syria, and,  it  may  be,  previous  to  Chaldea  and  Egypt,  so  far 
as  relates  to  its  origin  and  the  first  periods  of  its  history. 

The  time  has  come  when  our  cm*rent  chronologies  must 
more  definitely  adjust  their  relations  with  the  history  of 
China.  This  has  already  been  attempted  without  satisfac- 
tory results,  and  there  have  been  efforts  to  discredit  the 
great  antiquity  implied  by  the  civilization  and  literary  rec- 
ords of  that  country.  It  is  nowise  likely  that  a  more  com- 
plete acquaintance  with  Chinese  historical  literature  will 
make  the  task  easier.  It  seems  evident  now  that  actual 
harmony  betAveen  our  chronology  and  Chinese  antiquity 
is  impossible.  Heretofore  we  have  seen  China  from  a  dis- 
tance, heard  reports  of  its  civilization  from  mariners  and 
merchants  who  have  been  permitted  to  visit  some  of  its 
ports,  from  missionaries  who  have  seen  something  of  the 
interior,  and  from  embassies  that  have  seen  its  magnificent 
roads  and  its  royal  court ;  and  Chinese  books  collected  and 
brought  to  Europe  have  engaged  the  attention  of  scholars. 
But  the  commercial  intercourse  with  Eastern  Asia  now 
opening  across  the  Pacific  begins  a  new  era  in  the  history 
of  the  world,  and  China,  withdrawn  from  a  seclusion  no 
longer  possible,  will  become  as  familiarly  known  to  us  as 
any  other  cultivated  nation  with  which  we  have  inter- 
course. 

It  is  impossible  to  deny  the  vast  antiquity  of  that  coun- 
try without  using  methods  of  criticism  that  would  destroy 
the  credibility  of  all  history.  Litse,  an  eminent  Chinese 
historian,  after  describing  the  fabulous  and  mythical  ages, 
comes  to  "the  reigns  of  men"  during  long  periods  of  time 
of  which  there  is  no  chronology,  although  some  knowledge 
of  those  old  nilers  is  recorded.  One  of  them,  named  Sui- 

21319J3 


oS  P  re-Historic  Nation*. 

shin, "  took  observations  of  the  stars,  and  investigated  the 
five  elements."  Next  come  the  "  Five  Rulers,"  who  are 
mythical  representatives  of  historical  epochs  in  "  the  peri- 
od before  Yao."  They  are  named  as  follows  :  1.  Fu-hi, 
who  cultivated  astronomy,  religion,  and  the  art  of  writing, 
and  whose  dynasty  consisted  of  fifteen  kings :  he  repre- 
sents a  great  epoch  in  Chinese  history;  2.  Shin-nung,  who 
promoted  agriculture  and  medical  science,  and  had  a  line 
of  successors.  3.  Hoang-ti,  a  great  sovereign,  who  put 
down  a  revolt,  and  in  whose  time  the  magnetic  needle  was 
discovered,  the  written  character  improved,  and  many  ap- 
pliances of  civilized  life  carried  to  greater  perfection ;  the 
4th  and  5th  of  these  "  Rulers,"  or  heads  of  dynasties,  were 
descendants  of  Hoang-ti.  The  "Five  Rulers"  were  fol- 
lowed by  the  second  period,  called  "  the  period  of  Yao  and 
Shin."  Next  came  the  period  of  the  "  Imperial  Dynasties," 
which  began  with  the  Emperor  Yu,  or  Ta-yu,  the  great  and 
good  Yu.  The  great  historical  work  of  Sse-ma-thi-an,  writ- 
ten about  2000  years  ago,  narrates  events  chronologically 
from  the  year  2637  B.C.  to  122  B.C. 

In  the  earliest  tim'es  brought  to  view  there  appears  a 
degree  of  civilization  and  culture  which  must  have  been 
the  growth  of  many  previous  ages.  One  fact  stated  is  im- 
portant in  its  relation  to  "  the  period  of  the  Five  Rulers." 
It  is  said  that  the  Chinese  cycle  of  60  years  was  established 
in  the  61st  year  of  Hoang-ti's  reign.  This  being  so,  it  fol- 
lows, by  mathematical  demonstration,  that  Hoang-ti's  reign 
began  in  the  year  2698  B.C.,  for  the  75th  recurrence  of  this 
cycle  was  completed  with  the  year  1863  A.D.  The  time 
of  Fu-hi  was  probably  500  years  earlier ;  and  previous  to 
him  were  the  more  ancient  rulers,  some  of  whom  cultivated 
the  science  of  astronomy.  It  seems  impossible  to  avoid 


Hellas  and  Civilization.  39 

the  conclusion  that  Chinese  civilization  is  as  old  as  Usher's 
date  for  the  beginning  of  the  human  race,  and,  perhaps, 
much  older. 

I  assume,  in  these  inquiries,  that  the  current  ""biblical" 
chronologies  have  no  Avarrant  from  either  science  or  the 
Bible,  and  that  they  must  not  be  allowed  to  pass  for  more 
than  they  are  worth. 

HELLAS    AND    CIVILIZATION. 

The  false  chronologies,  and  slowness  to  admit  that  pre- 
historic times  were  not  necessarily  barbarous,  have  troubled 
our  histories  of  the  people  called  Greeks.  Heretofore  the 
scholarship  of  modern  Europe  has  too  much  fostered  a  be- 
lief that  enlightened  civilization,  science,  and  art  all  began 
with  the  people  of  Hellas,  and  had  their  first  great  devel- 
opment at  Athens.  Hellenic  egotism,  inherited  with  Hel- 
lenic literature,  has  not  served  as  the  best  qualification  for 
writing  or  reading  histories  of  the  Greek  race.  What  be- 
longs to  several  families  of  this  brilliant  group  of  the  great 
Aryan  people  has  been  given  to  one,  and  that  the  latest  in 
development ;  and  what  they  all  received  from  the  Phoeni- 
cian or  Cushite  culture,  which  immediately  preceded  them 
in  the  same  regions,  has  not  been  well  considered.  This 
influence  has  sometimes  made  it  difficult  to  see  that  even 
Babylon,  Egypt,  Assyria,  and  Persia  had  any  thing  higher 
or  more  enlightened  than  a  certain  greatness  of "  barbaric 
pomp  and  splendor." 

That  interpretation  of  antiquity  which  begins  its  history 
of  civilization  with  the  Hellenes  and  the  Romans,  and  ex- 
cludes every  thing  not  recognized  and  celebrated  by  their 
literary  oracles,  is  not  entitled  to  the  highest  degree  of  re- 
spect. Neither  the  Hellenes  nor  the  Romans  gave  an  in- 


4:0  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

telligible  account  of  the  beginnings  of  their  own  history. 
Their  literature  betrays  no  clear  consciousness  of  the  bril- 
liant civilizations  that  preceded  them  in  Thrace,  Asia  Mi- 
nor, and  Etruria,  and  furnishes  only  confused  and  uncertain 
notices  of  the  Phoenicians,  Egyptians,  and  Persians  previ- 
ous to  Alexander  the  Great.  This  is  not  altogether  true 
of  Herodotus,  who  was  an  Ionian ;  but  it  is  true  of  what 
has  heretofore  passed  current  as  most  orthodox  and  au- 
thoritative in  Greek  literature,  and  has  done  most  to  regu- 
late modern  opinion. 

In  certain  respects  Mr.  Grote's  history  of  Greece  is  ad- 
mirable, so  far  as  it  professes  to  be  a  history  of  the  Hellenic 
peninsula;  but  his  treatment  of  what  is  usually  termed  the 
"  Legendary  and  Heroic  Age  of  Greece"  is  chiefly  remark- 
able as  an  elaborate  display  of  unphilosophical  skepticism. 
He  begins  the  history  with  the  year  776  B.C.,  and  finds 
nothing  but  "  interesting  fictions"  in  the  myths  and  legends 
representing  the  previous  ages.  The  history  of  Hellas  did 
tfot  go  back  into  the  past  many  generations  beyond  that 
date.  Hellas  was  scarcely  as  old  as  Homer,  who  was  not 
a  native  of  that  country,  and  did  not  represent  its  culture'. 
Grote's  positive  and  not  always  ingenuous  skepticism  may 
be  as  reasonable  as  that  theory  of  Greek  antiquity  which 
finds  in  the  myths  and  legends  nothing  more  than-  a  "  le- 
gendary and  heroic  age"  of  the  Hellenes.  It  is  false  to  the 
past,  but  not  much  more  so  than  this  theory  itself. 

The  Greek  race — settled  around  the  JEgean  Sea,  in  Asia 
Minor,  Thrace,  Macedonia,  Thessaly,  Epirus,  and  through- 
out the  Grecian  peninsula — consisted  of  a  group  of  tribes 
or  families  as  closely  related  in  origin  and  language,  prob- 
ably, as  the  Scandinavian  group  in  Northwestern  Europe. 
They  inherited  the  culture  of  their  predecessors,  the  Pho:- 


Historical  Skepticism  and  the  Greeks.          41 

nicians,  or  Cushites,  and  the  Pelasgians,  who,  in  more  an- 
cient times,  established  the  oracle  of  Dodona,  made  Thrace 
eminent  as  a  seat  of  civilization  and  science,  established 
enlightened  communities  in  Asia  Minor,  and  carried  their 
civilizing  influence  into  the  Grecian  peninsula  itself.  The 
earliest  and  greatest  known  development  of  the  Greek  race 
was  that  which  created  the  Ionian  confederacy  of  Asia  Mi- 
nor ;  the  latest  was  that  of  Hellas. 

Very  true  it  is  that  the  Argonautic  expedition,  the  le- 
gendary sieges  of  Thebes,  the  oracle  of  Dodona,  the  cities 
of  Mycenae  and  Tiryns,  and  such  personages  as  Orpheus, 
Musa?us,  Olen,  Linus,  Cecrops,  Cadmus,  Pelops,  and  many 
others,  have  very  little  to  do  with  the  history  of  Hellas ; 
but  it  is  not  true  that  they  are  all  mere  fictions  or  illusions. 
Criticism  that  destroys  narrow  and  false  interpretations  of 
the  legendary  lore  of  the  Greeks  deserves  respect,  but  it 
should  not  be  content  with  skepticism,  and  assume  too 
readily  that  "  the  curtain  is  the  picture."  It  may  be  true, 
as  Cousin  says  in  his  lectures  on  the  History  of  Philosophy, 
thr.t  skepticism  is  the  first  appearance  of  common  sense  in 
our  philosophizing;  but  it  is  not  the  only  appearance  of 
common  sense  on  that  field,  for  skepticism  is  neither  the 
middle  nor  the  end  of  true  philosophy.  Historical  criti- 
cism should  be  able  not  only  to  destroy  falsehood,  but  also 
to  establish  truth. 

Mr.  Grote  might  reasonably  find  in  the  Hellenic  myths 
and  legends  nothing  belonging  to  the  history  of  Hellas ; 
but,  however  brilliantly  or  weirdly  arrayed  by  imagination, 
they  are  the  children  of  Fact;  they  contain  recollections, 
not  of  the  first  ages  of  Hellenic  history,  but  of  communities 
and  nations  more  ancient.  True  interpreters  of  antiquity 
see  this ;  it  could  not  be  seen  by  Mr.  Grote,  who  adopted 


4:2  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

what  he  describes  as  "the  just  position  long  ago  laid  down 
by  Varro,"  and  which  he  states  thus :  "  First,  there  was  the 
time  from  the  beginning  of  mankind  down  to  the  first  del- 
ug2 — a  time  wholly  unknown.  Secondly,  the  period  from 
the  first  deluge  down  to  the  first  Olympiad,  which  is  called 
the  mythical  period,  because  many  fabulous  things  are  re- 
counted in  it.  Thirdly,  the  time  from  the  first  Olympiad 
down  to  ourselves,  which  is  called  the  historical  period,  be- 
cause the  things  done  in  it  are  comprised  in  true  histories." 

According  to  this  "  position,"  mankind  did  nothing  im- 
portant, and  appear  not  to  have  risen  much  above  barba- 
rism previous  to  the  first  Greek  Olympiad.  It  assumes  that 
actual  history  begins  with  the  Hellenes ;  and  Grote  appears 
to  take  for  granted  that  civilization,  culture,  and  even  lan- 
guage were  in  their  infancy  when  Hellas  rose.  He  finds 
in  the  mythical  traditions  nothing  to  indicate  previous  civ- 
ilization or  previous  nationalities ;  he  fails  to  recognise  the 
influence  of  the  Phoenicians  and  Egyptians ;  and  his  eyes 
are  blind  to  the  fact  that  the  civilization  of  Ionia  was  older 
and  greater  than  that  of  Hellas.  He  finds  "  prodigious  im- 
probability" in  the  legendary  account  Herodotus  gives  of 
the  oracle  of  Dodona,  not  seeming  able  to  comprehend  that 
no  "  prodigious  improbabilities"  can  exceed  those  put  forth 
in  support  of  this  scheme  of  confident  skepticism,  which 
sees  nothing  but  "fictions"  in  the  traditions  and  mytho- 
logical legends  of  antiquity,  and  attributes  them  wholly  to 
the  "  creative  imagination"  of  the  Greeks. 

He  states  very  justly  that,  in  Hellas,  or  Greece  proper, 
"  physical  astronomy  was  both  new  and  accounted  impious 
in  the  time  of  the  Peloponnesian  war,"  and  that  even  Plato 
"  permitted  physical  astronomy  only  under  great  restric- 
tions antl  to  a  limited  extent."  And  yet  he  fails  to  notice, 


The  earliest  Greek  Culture  icas  Asiatic.        43 

in  such  a  manner  as  faithful  exposition  of  Greek  history 
demanded,  that  Thales,  Pythagoras,  and  many  other  lonians 
had  a  science  of  astronomy  which  included  correct  knowl- 
edge of  the  solar  system.  It  seems  impossible  to  inquire 
carefully  without  perceiving  that  Hellenic  culture  was  pre- 
ceded by  a  great  development  of  civilization,  science,  and 
art,  which  it  inherited,  but  could  not  wholly  make  its  own, 
and  which,  in  Ionia,  was  superior  to  anything  known  af- 
terward at  Athens,  excepting,  perhaps,  in  elegant  literature, 
sculpture,  and  certain  forms  of  philosophical  speculation. 

What  is  usually  talked  of  as  Greek  culture  had  its  origin 
in  Asia  Minor,  and  was  richly  developed  there  long  before 
its  light  appeared  at  Athens.  The  earliest  intellectual 
movement  that  found  expression  in  the  Greek  language 
was  wholly  Asiatic.  It  appeared  in  Ionia,  the  country  of 
Homer,  Thales,  Pythagoras,  and  Herodotus,  where,  during 
many  ages  before  the  lonians  and  their  language  became 
predominant,  another  people  had  richly  brightened  the  land 
with  their  culture.  The  literature,  language,  and  sway  of 
that  older  people  were  superseded  or  absorbed  by  the  Ionic 
family  of  the  Greek  race,  just  as  in  Italy,  some  centuries 
later,  the  speech,  culture,  and  dominion  of  Etruria  were  su- 
perseded by  the  Romans.  The  cities  of  Ionia,  and  of  the 
whole  coast  of  Asia  Minor,  were  built  and  occupied  origin- 
ally by  the  race  represented  by  the  Phoenicians,  followed 
by  the  Pelasgians ;  and  in  that  beautiful  region,  whatever* 
culture  was  known  to  Arabia,  Egypt,  Chaldea,  and  the  East, 
received  its  most  elegant  development.  The  scholars  of 
Ionia  itself  studied  in  the  schools  of  Phoenicia  and  Egypt. 
They  reached  a  degree  of  intellectual  independence  and  of 
progress  in  science  never  equaled  by  any  community  on 
the  other  side  of  the  ^Effean. 


44  Pre-JIistonc  Nations. 

Only  a  small  portion  of  the  literature  of  Ionia  has  been 
preserved ;  but  the  earliest  Greek  writers  known  or  men- 
tioned were  all  natives  of  Asia  Minor,  or  representatives 
of  its  culture.  Homer  was  born  and  educated  there ;  IIc- 
siod's  parentage  and  literary  training  were  both  Ionian ; 
Archilochus,  "  the  first  Greek  who  composed  iambic  verses 
according  to  fixed  rules,"  was  born  on  that  coast  in  the 
eighth  century  before  Christ,  and  had  a  fame  "  second  only 
to  that  of  Homer."  There  appeared  the  first  development 
of  what  has  been  called  the  "  Greek  philosophy,"  and  He- 
rodotus tells  us  that  Thales,  "  the  father  of  Greek  philoso- 
phy," was  "  of  Phoenician  extraction ;"  lie  was  born  at 
Miletus  in  the  seventh  century  before  Christ.  Pythagoras 
was  a  native  of  Samos,  one  of  the  most  important  Ionian 
cities.  All  the  early  historians  who  wrote  in  Greek  were 
born  and  educated  in  Asia  Minor;  Herodotus  was  a  native 
of  Halicarnassus ;  Hecateus  was  a  native  of  Miletus.  Ty r- 
taeus,  born  at  Miletus  nearly  700  years  before  the  Christian 
Era,  was  one  of  those  who  carried  Ionian  culture  to  Athens; 
and  in  the  same  century  appeared,  on  the  Asiatic  side  of 
the  ^Egean,  Terpander,  Alcman,  Alcanis,  Sappho,  and  other 
brilliant  Grecian  lyrists.  In  Asia  Minor  rose  the  most  ele- 
gant and  beautiful  order  of  Greek  architecture — the  Ionic. 
At  the  beginning  of  the  sixth  century  before  Christ  the 
Greek  world  had  two  matchless  temples  that  moved  all 
beholders  with  admiration  and  wonder:  they  were  both  in 
Asia  Minor,  one  being  the  temple  of  Hera,  at  Samos,  the 
other  the  temple  of  Diana,  at  Ephesus.  Artistic  architec- 
ture had  not  then  made  its  appearance  in  Hellas. 

The  intimate  relations  of  Athens  with  Ionia  contributed 
more  than  anything  else  to  make  that  city  superior  in  cul- 
ture to  any  other  community  on  the  Hellenic  peninsula 


What  the  Greek  Myths  signify.  45 

In  this  region,  the  people  generally,  like  the  Spartans,  nev- 
er reached  a  very  high  degree  of  cultivation ;  but  the  Hel- 
lenic writers  left  no  histories  of  literature  to  show  what  the 
Greek  race  inherited  from  the  enlightened  civilization  of 
other  and  older  peoples,  or  to  point  out  distinctly  their 
own  relation  to  Ionia.  Herodotus  showed  that  religion, 
letters,  and  civilization  came  to  the  Greeks  from  the  Phoe- 
nicians and  Egyptians;  but  in  Hellas  his  statements  were 
severely  attacked,  Plutarch  describing  them  as  "  the  malig- 
nity of  Herodotus ;"  and,  until  recently,  modern  scholars, 
swayed  by  Hellenic  influence,  took  a  similar  tone,  and  treat- 
ed him  as  an  untrustworthy  fabler.  It  is  now  understood 
that  no  Greek  historian  was  more  truthful  or  more  intelli- 
gent. 

We  should  study  the  Greek  myths  and  traditions,  not  as 
indications  of  a  "  legendary  and  heroic  age  of  Greece"  nor 
with  that  stultifying  skepticism  which  represents  them  as 
nothing  more  than  "  interesting  fictions,"  but  as  imper- 
fect, confused,  and  idealized  recollections  of  civilizations, 
peoples,  events,  and  persons  that  had  become  ancient  be- 
fore the  time  of  the  first  Olympiad.  "Without  the  aid  of 
regular  history,  we  can  see  that  ancient  Thrace  and  Phryg- 
ia  were  enlightened  and  important  nationalities,  that  flour- 
ished and  declined  several  ages  before  the  period  to  which 
the  Trojan  War  is  usually  assigned.  To  their  time  be- 
longs the  later  period  of  the  oracle  of  Dodona ;  and  con- 
temporary with  them,  probably,  were  Mycena?  and  "  sacred 
Tiryns."  It  is  quite  as  absurd  to  call  Olen,  Orpheus,  Mu- 
saeus,  Eumolpus,  and  Minos,  Greeks ;  as  to  call  Livy,  Virgil, 
Cicero,  Pliny,  Hannibal,  and  Scipio,  Frenchmen.  They  did 
not  belong  to  the  nation  or  age  of  Plato,  Euripides,  Xeno- 
,phon,  and  Socrates.  Some  of  them  were  Thracians ;  and 


46  Pre-Histoiic  Nations. 

the  Thrace  of  Orpheus  must  have  been  nearly  as  distant  in 
time  from  Hellas,  as  the  Rome  of  the  Caesars  was  from  the 
France  of  Philip  Augustus.  Between  them  were  "  middle 
ages"  to  which  belonged  Troy,  Argos,  the  origin  of  the  or- 
acle of  Delphi,  with  the  earlier  periods  of  the  kingdom  of 
Lydia  and  of  the  Ionian  confederacy.  The  language  of 
Thrace  and  Dodona  must  have  been  a  dead  language  be- 
fore the  time  of  Homer;  and  the  hymns  of  Olen,  Orpheus, 
and  Musa3us,  preserved  by  use  in  celebrating  the  Eleusinian 
Mysteries,  must  have  needed  translation  in  the  time  of 
Onomacritus,  even  if  the  language  in  which  they  were  writ- 
ten had  been  neither  Pelasgic  nor  "Ammonian,"  but,  in- 
stead, some  ancient  dialect  of  the  Greek  family. 

It  is  not  a  fortunate  circumstance  that  our  studies  of  an- 
tiquity have  been  so  much  influenced  by  Hellenic  narrow- 
ness and  egotism ;  nor  is  it  creditable  to  the  scholars  of 
Hellas  that  they  said  so  little,  and  appeared  to  know  so 
little  of  the  ancient  history  of  that  beautiful  region  around 
the  -ZEgean,  where  civilization  was  as  old  as  the  commer- 
cial enterprise  that  created  Sidon.  Their  influence  has  giv- 
en us  histories  of  Greece  in  which  nearly  everything  in  that 
region  is  made  subordinate  to  Hellas,  which  is  set  forth  as 
the  beginning,  middle,  and  end  of  all  the  enlightened  cul- 
ture it  ever  knew.  It  should  be  sufficient  to  appeal  to  the 
Greek  language  itself  against  this  method  of  writing  histo- 
ries of  the  Greeks.  The  extraordinary  development  of  this 
language  appears  in  its  oldest  literary  monuments  that 
have  been  preserved,  making  us  feel  that  they  cannot  be 
the  oldest  in  its  history.  Its  substantial  identity  in  all  the 
dialects  shows  that  it  was  the  speech  of  a  civilized  and  cul- 
tivated people  before  dialects  began  to  appear.  Whence 
came  this  development  ?  It  shows  a  history  in  which  Hel- 


Future  Ignorance  and  American  History.      47 

las  occupies  only  the  last  ages.  We  know  something  of 
Ionia  and  the  other  Greek  communities  on  the  coast  of 
Asia  Minor,  and  we  are  sure  that  the  beginning  of  that  his- 
tory cannot  be  made  a  "  fiction"  by  the  obscurity  in  which 
it  is  hidden. 

Three  thousand  years  hence,  when  all  the  living  lan- 
guages of  the  present  time  have  been  long  dead,  and  all 
the  literature  connected  with  them  lost,  some  writer  be- 
longing to  a  nation  and  using  a  language  that  will  first  ap- 
pear in  the  world  two  thousand  years  after  our  time  may 
undertake  to  write  the  history  of  America.  To  do  it  as 
some  have  written  the  history  of  Greece,  he  will  begin  with 
some  great  epoch  in  our  history  yet  to  come,  perhaps,  pre- 
vious to  which  authentic  history  will  be  found  impossible ; 
but  mythical  and  traditional  recollections  of  Europe  and 
of  the  first  ages  of  American  history  will  remain,  and  these 
will  be  grouped  together  and  referred  to  a  "  legendary  and 
heroic  age"  of  America.  Alfred  the  Great,  William  the 
Conqueror,  Shakspeare,  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  Luther,  Dante, 
and  possibly  Julius  Caesar,  Alexander  the  Great,  and  Ma- 
homet, will  all  become  mythical  Americans.  Another  his- 
torian of  that  future  age  may  protest,  with  the  air  of  ex- 
cessive wisdom,  that  the  mythical  and  legendary  recollec- 
tions are  merely  "  interesting  fictions,"  and  signify  nothing. 
They  will  agree,  however,  that  actual  history  begins  with 
the  given  epoch. 

The  Hellenes  are  not  the  only  people  whose  audacious 
egotism  has  assumed  and  believed  them  to  be  the  selectest 
people  on  earth — the  matchless  blossom  and  glory  of  hu- 
manity, while  all  others  were  outside  barbarians;  but  it 
may  well  be  doubted  whether  this  weakness  in  any  other 
people  ever  had  such  a  powerful  and  fai'-reaching  influence. 


48  Pre-Hiatoric  Nations. 

I  do  not  believe  the  history  of  America  can  be  written, 
three  thousand  years  hence,  as  ignorantly  and  meanly  as  I 
have  supposed.  The  culture  of  the  present  time,  with  all 
its  defects,  is  so  much  larger  and  nobler,  so  much  more  ob- 
servant of  what  is  true  and  just,  in  its  treatment  of  the 
past  and  the  present,  than  was  ever  realized  in  Hellas,  that 
it  cannot  transmit  to  future  ages  the  same  misleading  in- 
fluence. 

Bryant,  in  his  "  Analysis  of  Ancient  Mythology,"  dis- 
cusses the  narrowness  and  self-conceit  of  the  Hellenic  spir- 
it with  much  intelligence  and  force.  He  points  out  gross 
mistakes  in  Hellenic  writers  on  Mythology,  and  shows  that 
they  were  too  ignorant  of  their  predecessors,  and  too  big- 
oted and  egotistic,  to  treat  this  subject  in  a  proper  manner. 
He  maintains  that  the  most  useful  Greek  writers  on  sub- 
jects relating  to  antiquity  are  those  who  did  not  reside 
in  Hellas,  and  names  Lycophron,  Callimachus,  Apollonius 
Rhodius,  Homer,  Nonnus,  who  wrote  "  Dionysiaca,"  Porphy- 
ry, Proclus,  lamblicus,  Diodorus  Siculus,  Pausanias,  and 
the  Christian  fathers  Theophilus,  Tatianus,  Athenagoras, 
Clemens,  Origen,  Eusebius,  Theodoret,  Syncellus,  and  oth- 
ers. In  such  writers  he  finds  a  more  unprejudiced  refer- 
ence to  antiquity,  and  a  more  candid  record  of  what  was 
known  of  the  older  nations.  It  would,  however,  be  too 
much  to  expect,  anywhere  in  Greek  literature,  a  just  and 
cordial  appreciation  of  the  great  civilization  that  prevailed 
around  the  ./Egean  and  the  Mediterranean  for  ages  before 
the  Greek  race  came  into  history.  It  is  not  there.  The 
lost  literature  of  Thrace,  Phrygia,  Ionia,  Etruria,  and  Phoe- 
nicia would  tell  us  more ;  but  its  beginnings  were  in  very 
remote  times,  and  successive  changes  of  race  and  language 
so  wasted  the  early  records  and  monuments,  that  a  com- 


Lost  Books  of  the  Greeks.  49 

plete  history  had  become  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  the 
later  generations. 

Some  of  the  most  important  Grecian  works  on  archaso- 
logical  topics  are  lost,  or  known  only  in  preserved  frag- 
ments of  them.  Who  that  is  drawn  to  these  studies  would 
not  like  to  have  a  complete  copy  of  the  Ethnica  of  Stepha- 
nus  of  Byzantium  ?  or  of  the  more  ancient  mythological 
history  of  Pherecydes,  who  is  said  to  have  obtained  his 
knowledge  from  the  secret  books  of  the  Phoenicians  ?  or 
of  the  genealogical,  chronological,  and  historical  works  of 
Hellanicus  of  Mytilene  ?  or  of  that  very  ancient  work  of 
Thyma3tes,  of  "Asia  Minor,"  written  in  a  language  older 
than  the  Greek,  to  which  Diodorus  Siculus  and  others  re- 
fer in  their  accounts  of  Dionysus  or  Bacchus  ?  A  vast  li- 
brary of  such  lost  works  would  fail  to  satisfy  half  our  ques- 
tions, but  it  would  add  much  to  our  knowledge  of  the 
past ;  and  how  greatly  would  this  knowledge  be  extend- 
ed could  we  add  to  it  the  lost  mythological  and  historical 
literature  of  Phoenicia,  Arabia,  Egypt,  and  Chaldea,  with 
those  "  ancient  histories  of  Iran"  mentioned  in  the  Dabis- 
tan  and  other  Eastern  writings ! 

PRE-HISTOKIC   TIMES. 

Those  "  ancient  histories  of  Iran,"  long  since  lost,  would 
tell  us  much  that  we  desire  to  know,  not  only  of  the  early 
history  of  the  Aryan  people,  whose  great  antiquity  it  is 
now  impossible  to  deny,  but  also  of  the  great  people  of  an- 
cient Arabia,  whose  civilization  was  much  older  and  more 
enterprising,  and  who  were  known  to  the  Hebrews  as  Cush- 
ites,  and  to  the  early  Greeks  as  Ethiopians.  It  seems  to 
me  impossible  to  inquire  carefully  without  being  led  to  the 
conclusion  -that  Arabia,  in  very  remote  antiquity,  was  the 

C 


50  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

seat  of  a  brilliant  civilization,  which  extended  itself  through- 
out Southwestern  Asia,  and  spread  its  influence  from  the 
extreme  east  to  the  extreme  west  of  the  known  world.  The 
wonderful  people  of  ancient  Arabia — the  revered  and  mys- 
terious Ethiopians  of  ancient  tradition — seem  to  have  filled 
the  world,  as  they  knew  it,  with  their  commercial  activity, 
their  maritime  enterprise,  their  colonies,  and  the  light  of 
civilized  life.  Their  traces  are  still  found  everywhere. 
Their  civilization  may  have  originated  in  Southern  Arabia ; 
it  may  have  been  due  to  the  influence  of  some  older  peo- 
ple. This  problem  cannot  be  solved ;  but  those  who  are 
using  the  disentombed  records  of  Assyrian  and  Chaldean 
culture  to  reconstruct  linguistic,  ethnic,  and  political  his- 
tory, may  see  in  them  that  "  third  race,  neither  Indo-Euro- 
pean nor  Semitic,"  which  "  laid  the  foundation  of  the  cul- 
ture which  was  adopted  and  developed  there  by  the  other 
races,  as  they  later,  one  after  another,  succeeded  to  the  su- 
premacy." 

By  pre-historic  times  I  mean  the  ages  between  the  crea- 
tion of  man  and  the  beginning  of  authentic  history.  If  we 
accept  the  usual  method,  and  begin  regular  history  with 
the  Greeks  and  Romans,  we  must  exclude  from  it  the  his- 
tory of  China,  and  pretty  much  the  whole  of  Rawlinson's 
history  of  the  "Five  Great  Monarchies  of  the  Ancient 
Eastern  World ;"  we  must  place  in  pre-historic  times  all 
that  relates  to  the  old  Egyptians,  since  Menes  as  well  as 
before  his  time,  not  to  speak  of  the  older  Aryans  and  Cush- 
ites,  or  Ethiopians,  who  belong  there ;  and  we  must  find 
nothing  historical  in  any  part  of  Western  Europe  beyond 
the  accounts  given  by  the  Romans.  This  method  is  open 
to  very  effective  criticism.  The  limit  of  history  should  be 
moved  farther  back  into  the  past,  and  more  importance 


Pre-IIistorw  Times  not  wholly  unseen.         51 

should  be  allowed  to  some  existing  documents  which  it  dis- 
regards; but  it  is  unnecessary  to  engage  in  controversy 
with  those  who  begin  history  with  the  first  Greek  Olym- 
piad, provided  they  do  not  deny  all  previous  civilization, 
and  maintain  that  everything  in  human  affairs  previous  to 
that  date  is  either  unknown  or  fabulous. 

We  know  much  of  the  history  of  times  more  ancient. 
Egypt  has  been  unveiled.  We  know  much  of  the  Assyrian 
empire  from  its  beginning  to  its  close ;  and  when  the  in- 
scriptions discovered  in  the  Assyrian  and  Mesopotamian 
ruins,  amounting  now  to  "  whole  libraries  of  annals,  and 
works  of  science  and  literature,"  shall  be  fully  explored 
and  deciphered,  the  veil  may  be  partly  withdrawn  from  the 
history  of  that  great  race  which  created  Egypt  and  Chal- 
dea,  and  whose  characteristic  traces  still  show  the  extent 
of  its  influence.  The  Cushite  element  is  already  clear  to 
the  best  interpreters ;  and,  apart  from  linguistic  inquiry, 
what  was  known  already,  rightly  studied,  was  sufficient  to 
warrant  a  prediction  that  it  would  be  found  there. 

The  great  period  of  the  Cushite  or  Ethiopian  race  had 
closed  many  ages  previous  to  the  time  of  Homer,  although 
separate  communities  of  that  race  remained,  not  only  in 
Egypt,  but  also  in  Southern  Arabia,  in  Phrenicia,  in  Africa, 
and  elsewhere  east  and  west.  The  distance  in  time  from 
our  age  to  that  of  Homer  is  much  less  than  that  from  his 
age  to  the  very  remote  period  when  the  Cushites  of  Ara- 
bia colonized  Chaldea.  When  we  consider  the  exclusive- 
ness  of  the  Hellenes,  and  their  lack  of  disposition  to  study 
and  comprehend  the  past,  it  is  not  surprising  that  they 
knew  so  little  of  the  history  of  more  ancient  nations ;  on 
the  contrary,  we  can  see  more  reason  for  surprise  that  their 
literature  and  traditions  furnish  so  much  to  indicate  the  an- 


52  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

cient  civilization  and  greatness  of  the  people  whom  they 
called  Ethiopians. 

We  cannot  write  an  authentic  history  of  the  ancient  peo- 
ple of  Arabia,  nor  of  any  other  pre-historic  people;  but  we 
t-an  study  what  is  known  of  them,  inquire  at  every  new 
source  of  information,  and  draw  such  conclusions  as  the 
facts  may  warrant.  Inquiry  concerning  the  condition  of 
the  human  race  in  prc-historic  times  cannot  now  be  avoid- 
ed. It  is  forced  upon  us  by  the  constant  and  increasing 
influence  of  progress  in  linguistic  and  physical  science. 
That  the  antiquity  of  man  is  much  greater  than  our  chro- 
nologies have  allowed  is  coming  to  be  an  established  fact. 
Should  the  later  reports  of  geology  on  this  subject  be  fully 
confirmed  by  future  discoveries,  this  inquiry  will  become 
more  active,  and  assume  higher  importance. 

Advocates  of  what  is  called  the  "  development  theory," 
as  well  as  champions  of  the  narrow  chronologies,  find  it 
convenient  to  assign  the  first  appearance  of  civilization  to 
a  very  modern  date  in  the  great  pre-historic  past.  Their 
hypothesis,  suggested  by  speculation  on  the  origin  of  spe- 
cies, and  unsupported  by  any  facts,  sets  forth  that  the  "  hu- 
man race  was  evolved  out  of  the  most  highly  organized  and 
endowed  of  the  inferior  mammalia ;"  and  that  "  the  fai-ther 
back  we  trace  man  into  the  past,  the  more  shall  we  find 
liini  approach,  in  bodily  conformation,  to  those  species  of 
the  anthropoid  quadrumana  which  are  most  akin  to  him  in 
structure."  Brutes  became  men  by  virtue  of  the  assumed 
"tendency  of  varieties  to  depart  indefinitely  from  the  orig- 
inal type,"  brute  instinct,  meanwhile,  by  a  like  wondrous 
change,  being  transformed  into  all  the  great  attributes  of 
the  human  soul.  According  to  this  theory,  the  first  ap- 
pearance of  man  on  earth  was  followed  by  a  vast  period 


The  Development  Tlieowj.  53 

of  human  savagery,  which  lasted  until  the  ever-progressing 
development  had  made  the  race  capable  of  civilization. 

It  is  mere  hypothesis,  accepted  by  its  advocates  as  true, 
but,  as  they  admit,  not  proved.  Geology  says  nothing  in 
its  favor,  for  the  oldest  human  remains  discovered  by  ge- 
ologists are  those  of  men  already  capable  of  improvement, 
and  most  of  them  consist  of  arms,  implements,  and  uten- 
sils of  human  manufacture.  Sir  John  Lubbock  and  others 
mention  only  two  human  skulls  that  can  be  referred  to  the 
most  ancient  period  of  the  Age  of  Stone,  and  the  antiquity 
of  one  of  these  is  doubtful.  Of  the  other,  known  as  the 
Engis  skull,  Mr.  Huxley  says,  in  his  "  Man's  Place  in  Na- 
ture," "  There  is  no  mark  of  degradation  about  any  part 
of  its  structure.  It  is,  in  fact,  a  fair  average  human  skull, 
which  might  have  belonged  to  a  philosopher,  or  might 
have  contained  the  thoughtless  brains  of  a  savage."  Sir 
J.  Lubbock  says  "  it  might  have  been  that  of  a  modern 
European,  so  far,  at  least,  as  form  is  concerned."  This 
seems  to  be  an  explicit  contradiction  of  the  "  development 
theory." 

Moreover,  it  cannot  be  shown  that  communities  more  or 
less  civilized  did  not  exist  on  some  portions  of  the  globe 
at  the  oldest  period  to  which  these  remains  can  be  as- 
signed. Northwestern  Europe  is  but  a  small  portion  of 
the  globe  we  inhabit.  To  suppose  the  existence  of  such 
communities  at  that  time  is  inconsistent  with  nothing  but 
this  unproved  hypothesis ;  and  to  say  they  did  not  exist, 
because  we  have  no  record  of  their  existence,  is  mere  as- 
sumption, with  no  more  claim  to  the  consideration  due  to 
ascertained  fact  than  the  supposition  itself. 

Archffiological  investigation  has  brought  to  view  civil- 

O  o  *~J 

ized  peoples  much  farther  back  in  the  past  than  history 


54  Pre-IIistoric  Nations. 

has  ever  supposed  possible.  Linguistic  science  enables  us 
to  trace  others  much  older.  Who  can  show  that  many 
civilized  communities  and  family  groups  of  language  did 
not  successively  appear,  run  their  course,  and  perish  in  the 
veiled  ages  of  pre-historic  time  ?  Who  can  make  it  certain 
that  the  first  appearance  of  civilization  in  those  ages  was 
at  a  comparatively  modern  date  ?  If  we  must  have  a  hy- 
pothesis concerning  the  condition  of  mankind  in  the  most 
obscure  prc-historic  ages,  let  it  not  be  inspired  entirely  by 
the  generalizings  of  physical  speculation,  but  rather  let  it 
come  from  the  higher  dictates  of  reason,  and  be  honorable 
to  human  nature.  There  is  much  to  suggest  such  a  hy- 
pothesis as  I  have  indicated,  not  only  in  the  nature  of  man, 
but  also  in  the  widespread  traces  of  pre-historic  civiliza- 
tion. For  instance,  we  are  not  the  first  civilized  inhabi- 
tants of  North  America,  as  the  almost  obliterated  but  still 
unmistakable  evidence  of  an  ancient  civilization  through- 
out the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Valleys  clearly  shows. 

These  reflections,  however,  are  somewhat  beyond  the 
scope  of  our  present  inquiry,  which  relates  chiefly  to  the 
antiquity  and  character  of  the  ancient  people  of  Arabia, 
and  their  influence  in  promoting  the  civilization  of  the 
Semitic  and  Aryan  races ;  therefore  I  close  them  with  the 
following  from  Humboldt's  Cosmos :  "  We  will  not  at- 
tempt to  decide  the  question  whether  the  races  at  present 
termed  savage  are  all  in  a  condition  of  original  wildness, 
or  whether,  as  the  structure  of  their  languages  often  allows 
us  to  conjecture,  many  among  them  may  not  be  tribes  that 
have  degenerated  into  a  wild  state,  remaining  as  scattered 

o  '  *••* 

fragments  from  the  wreck  of  a  civilization  that  was  early 
lost." 


ni. 

FEE-HISTORIC  GREATNESS  OF  ARABIA. 

IN  our  researches  into  the  beginnings  of  culture  in  the 
oldest  nations  mentioned  in  history,  we  perceive  that  they 
did  not  originate  civilization.  It  preceded  their  existence, 
and  came  from  an  older  people.  They  gave  it  new  forms, 
each  developing  an  individuality  of  its  own ;  but  it  came 
originally  from  abroad.  On  this  point  tradition  is  uniform 
and  explicit.  In  Eastern  Africa,  the  civilizers  proceeded 
from  the  south  toward  the  Mediterranean,  creating  the 
countries  in  the  valley  of  the  Nile.  The  traditions  of  inner 
Asia  bring  civilization  from  the  south,  and  connect  its  or- 
igin with  the  shores  of  the  ErythraBan  Sea,  meaning  the 
Arabian  shores  of  the  Indian  Ocean  and  the  Persian  Gulf; 
and  these  traditions  are  confirmed  by  inscriptions  found  in 
the  old  ruins  of  Chaldea.  These  inscriptions  reveal  also 
the  fact  that  the  first  civilizers  were  neither  Semites  nor 
Aryans,  but  a  "  third  race,"  which  ethnic  and  linguistic  in- 
vestigators have  been  slow  to  recognise. 

Meanwhile,  it  is  distinctly  apparent  in  the  religions,  my- 
thologies, institutions,  and  customs  of  these  ancient  na- 
tions that  they  all  had  the  beginnings  of  their  civilization 
from  the  same  source.  The  foundations  of  their  culture 
were  all  laid  by  the  same  hand,  whose  traces  are  still  visi- 
ble in  its  ruins — in  the  remains  of  its  most  ancient  religious 
forms,  its  most  primitive  architecture,  and  its  most  archaic 
styles  of  writing.  This  is  so  plain  that  some  writers,  not 


5G  P  re-Historic  3,'u.t'ton*. 

able  to  see  the  vast  extent  of  pre-historic  times,  or  to  com- 
prehend the  possibility  of  human  development  in  ages  too 
remote  for  their  chronology,  have  sought  to  show  that 
some  one  of  these  nations  gave  civilization  to  all  the  others. 
Some  have  suggested  that  it  came  from  Egypt,  a  hypothe- 
sis which  neither  facts  nor  probability  can  allow.  Some 
have  said  it  went  from  India  to  all  the  other  nations,  which 
is  still  more  improbable.  Other  clever  theorists  have  found 
the  primeval  source  of  ancient  civilization  in  Chaldea, 
where,  as  both  tradition  and  the  ruins  testify,  it  was  not 
original,  but  came  hi  from  an  enlightened  people  belonging 
to  more  ancient  times. 

AX   EARLY   CIVILIZATION    IN   ARABIA. 

In  studying  the  influence  of  this  more  ancient  culture, 
and  seeking  to  discover  the  source  from  which  it  proceeded, 
we  are  led  to  Arabia,  and  to  a  people  known  in  remote  an- 
tiquity as  Ethiopians  and  Cushites.  It  is  evident  that,  in 
ages  older  than  Egypt  or  Chaldea — ages  away  in  the  Past, 
far  beyond  the  limit  of  Usher's  chronology— Arabia  was 
the  seat  of  an  enlightened  and  enterprising  civilization, 
which  went  forth  into  the  neighboring  countries,  and  spread 
its  influence  "from  the  extremity  of  the  east  to  the  ex- 
tremity of  the  west."  At  that  time  Arabia  was  the  ex- 
:iitrd  and  wonderful  Ethiopia  of  old  tradition — the  centre 
and  light  of  what,  in  Western  Asia,  was  known  as  the  civ- 
ilized world.  There  are  traditions  of  the  ancient  eastern 
world,  which,  rightly  interpreted,  can  have  no  other  mean- 
ing ;  and  modern  research  presents  linguistic  and  ethnolog- 
ical problems  that  can  have  no  other  satisfactory  solution. 

The  geographical  position  of  Arabia,  as  well  as  the  char- 
acteristics of  the  great  race  by  which  it  was  occupied,  must 


Arabia  the  ancient  Ethiopia.  57 

have  given  it  this  early  pre-eminence.  A  peninsula  of 
great  extent,  lying  between  the  Red  Sea  and  the  Persian 
Gulf,  having  at  command  the  shores  of  the  Indian  Ocean 
and  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  within  easy  reach  of  the  valleys 
of  the  Indus  and  the  Euphrates,  the  eastern  coast  of  Africa, 
the  Nile  Valley,  and  the  regions  on  the  Eastern  Mediterra- 
nean, and  with  an  atmosphere  and  other  physical  relations 
that  gave  it  cosmical  importance,  it  had  all  those  conditions 
by  which  commercial  and  intellectual  development  are 
most  powerfully  stimulated.  It  is  not  surprising  to  hear 
what  the  oldest  traditions  say  of  the  wonderful  Ethiopians, 
nor  to  find  indications  that  they  were  the  civilizers  of  Egypt 
and  Southwestern  Asia.  If,  as  Heeren  says,  "  the  first 
seats  of  commerce  were  also  the  first  seats  of  civilization," 
the  civilization  of  Western  Asia  must  have  begun  with  the 
people  who,  previous  to  the  time  of  Alexander  the  Great, 
had,  from  time  immemorial,  monopolized  commercial  and 
maritime  enterprise. 

ARABIA   WAS   TUB    AKCIENT   ETHIOPIA. 

In  the  early  traditions  and  literary  records  of  the  Greeks, 
Arabia  is  described  as  Ethiopia ;  and  this  name  was  ap- 
plied to  other  regions  occupied  or  controlled  by  the  Ara- 
bian Cushites.  In  modern  times,  it  has  commonly  been 
assumed,  without  proper  inquiry,  that  the  Ethiopians  were 
of  course  Africans.  This  grave  mistake  has  been  the  source 
of  much  misunderstanding  and  confusion.  Another  fruit- 
ful source  of  misapprehension  is  that  notable  exercise  in 
etymology  which  derives  the  word  Ethiopia  from  the 
Greek  words  aWw  and  wi/>,  and  makes  it  a  designation  for  all 
the  dark-colored  races  of  Africa.  Careful  students  of  antiq- 
uity now  point  out  that  "  the  people  of  Ethiopia  seem  to 

C2 


58  P  re-Historic  Nations. 

have  been  of  the  Caucasian  race,"  meaning  white  men,  and 
that  the  word  was,  to  the  Greeks, "  perhaps  really  a  for- 
eign word  corrupted."*  The  Greeks  themselves  used  the 
appellation  as  a  sacred  term  in  the  religious  vocabulary 
they  had  received  from  the  Phoenicians  and  Egyptians.  It 
is  supposed  to  have  been  originated  by  what  is  called  the 
"  serpent  worship"  of  the  Cushites.  To  derive  it  from  the 
Greek  would  be  as  little  reasonable  as  to  derive  some  Greek 
name,  such  as  Hellas,  from  modern  Hungarian.  Eustathius 
(Schol.  in  Homerum)  says:  "^Ethiops  is  a  title  of  Zeus;'' 
Ai0<o^.  Lycophron  describes  Prometheus  as 
Atdio^i',  Prometheus  ^Ethiops,  the  daemon 
or  tutelary  deity.  The  appellation  had  a  religious  signifi- 
cance, but  no  reference  whatever  to  complexion. 

Arabia  was  the  original  Ethiopia,  or  Land  of  Cush.  The 
countries  on  the  Upper  Xile  were  called  Ethiopia  because 
they  were  at  first  colonies  or  dependent  provinces  of  an- 
cient Arabia.  At  a  later  period,  when  the  ancient  and 
long-continued  sway  of  the  Ethiopians  of  Arabia  declined, 
and  gave  way  to  the  rise  of  great  monarchies  in  Western 
Asia  and  India,  the  Cushite  regions  of  Asia  received  new 
masters  and  took  new  names.  Arabia  itself  was  recon- 
structed by  new  forms  of  political  organization;  and,  final- 
ly, the  later  Greeks  and  the  Romans  introduced  the  custom 
of  confining  the  name  Ethiopia  to  certain  African  countries 
on  the  Nile,  above  Egypt. 

In  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  Arabia  is  uniformly  described 
as  Cush,  or  the  Land  of  Cush.  In  our  English  Bible,  as  in 
the  translation  of  the  Seventy,  this  term  is  usually  rendered 
Ethiopia.  In  the  eighth  chapter  of  Esther,  wrhere  the  hun- 
dred and  twenty-seven  provinces  of  the  Persian  Empire 
*  See  Smith's  Classical  Dictionary. 


The  Hebrews  on  Arabia,  59 

are  described  as  extending  "from  India  unto  Ethiopia," 
this  word  means  Arabia ;  and  the  Ethiopian  wife  of  Moses 
was  an  Arabian  woman,  being  the  daughter  of  a  priest  of 
the  Midianites.  In  Ezekiel,  that  part  of  Northwestern 
Arabia  which  approaches  Egypt  is  called  "  the  border  of 
Ethiopia,"  or  Cush.  The  Arabian  king,  Tirhakah,  who 
marched  against  Sennacherib,  is  called  an  Ethiopian,  or 
Cushite ;  and  the  same  ethnic  name  is  applied  to  the  Ara- 
bian Zerah,  who  waged  war  against  Asa.  That  the  Hebrew- 
Scriptures  constantly  designate  Arabia  as  Cush  or  Ethio- 
pia will  not  be  questioned  by  any  Hebrew  scholar.  Rev. 
Charles  Forster,  in  his  work  on  the  "  Historical  Geography 
of  Arabia,"  and  Rev.  Dr.  Wells,  in  his  work,  "  The  Histori- 
cal Geography  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament,"  have  placed 
this  fact  in  the  clearest  light  by  collecting  and  examining* 
many  texts  in  which  the  name  appears.  Dr.  Wells  thinks 
it  incontestable  "  that  the  nation  of  Cush  did  first  settle  in 
Arabia ;"  and  Mr.  Forster  says :  "  It  is  a  matter  of  fact, 
familiar  to  the  learned,  reader,  that  the  names  '  Ethiopia' 
and  '  Ethiopians'  are  frequently  substituted  in  our  English 
version  of  the  Old  Testament  where  the  Hebrew  preserves 
the  proper  name  '  Cush.'  And  the  name  '  Cush,'  when  so 
applied  in  Scripture,  belongs  uniformly,  not  to  the  African, 
but  to  the  Asiatic  Ethiopia,  or  Arabia"  (vol.  i.,  p.  12). 

The  testimony  of  the  older  Greek  literature  is  no  less 
conclusive.  The  fact  is  incontestable  that,  in  the  early 
traditions  and  writings  of  the  Greeks,  this  name,  Ethiopia, 
seldom  refers  to  any  region  in  Africa.  Strabo  (bk.  i.,  ch.  ii.) 
says :  "  I  assert  that  the  ancient  Greeks,  in  the  same  way 
as  they  classed  all  the  Northern  nations  with  which  they 
were  familiar  as  Scythians,  etc.,  so,  I  affirm,  they  desig- 
nated as  Ethiopia  the  whole  of  the  Southern  countries  to- 


CO  Pre-IIistoric  Nations. 

ward  the  ocean."  This  includes  with  Arabia  all  the  atlja- 
cent  regions  between  the  Mediterranean  and  the  Indian 

O 

Ocean,  and  all  the  coasts  in  that  direction.  Again,  in  the 
saiue  book  and  chapter,  he  says:  "And  if  the  moderns 
have  confined  the  appellation  Ethiopians  to  those  only  who 
dwell  near  Egypt,  this  must  not  be  allowed  to  interfere 
with  the  meaning  of  the  ancients."  The  following  is  from 
the  treatise  of  Ephorus  on  Europe:  "If  the  whole  celestial 
and  terrestrial  world  were  divided  into  four  parts,  the  In- 
diana would  possess  that  towards  the  Past,  the  Ethiopians 
that  towards  the  south,  the  Kelts  that  towards  the  west, 
and  the  Scythians  that  towards  the  north."  Of  course,  this 
classification  refers  to  a  period  long  subsequent  to  that 
when  the  Ethiopians  controlled  not  only  India,  but  also 
flic  regions  occupied  by  the  Kelts,  and  a  portion  of  the 
countries  assigned  to  the  Scythians.  Ephorus  says  also : 
"This  family  of  Ethiopians  seems  to  me  to  have  extended 
themselves  from  the  winter  tropic  in  the  east  to  the  ex- 
tremity of  the  west." 

Homer  describes  the  Ethiopians  as  "divided,"  and 
"  dwelling  at  the  ends  of  the  earth,  towards  the  setting  and 
the  rising  sun."  Strabo  favors  the  following  explanation 
of  Ephorus :  "  The  Ethiopians  were  considered  as  occupying 
all  the  south  coasts  of  both  Asia  and  Africa,  and  as  'divi- 
ded' by  the  Red  Sea  (anciently  called  the  Arabian  Gulf) 
into  Eastern  and  Western  Asiatic  and  African."  It  is  add- 
ed that  "this  is  an  ancient  opinion  of  the  Greeks."  This 
is  undoubtedly  true,  as  far  as  it  goes.  Arabia  was  the 
original  Ethiopia,  and  its  name  was  applied  to  all  its  col- 
onies and  affiliated  communities,  whether  established  at 
the  west  by  the  people  called  Phoenicians,  or  at  the  east 
from  the  southern  and  eastern  shores  of  the  peninsula. 


The  Greeks  on  Ethiopia.  61 

They  appear  to  have  had  colonies  in  Northwestern  Africa 
at  a  very  remote  period.  Strabo  himself  (bk.  ii.,  ch.  v.) 
mentions  "  Western  Ethiopians,  who  are  the  most  southern 
of  the  nations  below  Carthage ;"  and  his  description  lo- 
cates them  on  the  Atlantic  coast  of  Africa. 

At  one  time,  as  the  early  Greeks  say,  the  term  Ethiopia 
was  used  to  describe  not  only  Arabia,  but  also  Syria,  Ar- 
menia, and  the  whole  region  between  the  Mediterranean 
and  the  Erythra3an  Sea,  which  means  the  Indian  Ocean  and 
the  Persian  Gulf.  Tradition  celebrates  Kepheus  as  one  of 
the  great  sovereigns  of  this  ancient  Ethiopia.  The  follow- 
ino-  can  be  found  in  the  fortieth  "  Narrative"  of  Conon : 

£3 

"  The  kingdom  of  Kepheus  was  in  the  country  afterwards 
called  Phoenicia,  but  then  lopia,  from  Joppa ;  and  it  ex- 
tended originally  from  the  Mediterranean  to  the  Arabians 
who  dwell  on  the  Erythraean  Sea."  Quotations  showing 
how  the  appellation  Ethiopia  was  used  by  the  older 
Greeks  can  be  multiplied.  Prof.  Rawlinson  has  abundant 
warrant  for  his  statement  that  "  the  uniform  voice  of  prim- 
itive antiquity  spoke  of  the  Ethiopians  as  a  single  race 
dwelling  on  the  shores  of  the  Southern  Ocean,"  and  "  from 
India  to  the  Pillars  of  Hercules." 

It  appears  to  have  been  understood,  also,  that  the  earliest 
civilization  appeared  in  Arabia.  This  was  manifestly  the 
belief  of  the  most  ancient  Hebrew  writers,  who  described 
its  first  inhabitants  that  had  cities  and  civilized  life  as 
Cushites.  They  recognised  no  country  as  older  than  Cush 
or  Ethiopia,  which  was  intimately  associated  with  the  old- 
est traditions  and  recollections  recorded  in  their  Scriptures. 
A  belief  of  the  ancient  Greeks  was  expressed  by  Stephanus 
of  Byzantium  as  follows :  "  Ethiopia  was  the  first  estab- 
lished country  on  earth;  and  the  Ethiopians  were  the  first 


62  I^re-Historic  Nations. 

who  introduced  the  worship  of  the  gods,  and  who  estab- 
lished laws."  This  was  probably  a  recollection  of  what, 
in  earlier  times,  had  been  historical.  The  same  belief  ap- 
pears in  those  glowing  passages  of  the  older  Greek  litera- 
ture where  the  Ethiopians,  and  especially  those  dwelling 
on  the  Erythraan  Sea,  are  described  as  the  greatest  and 
most  admirable  people  ever  known.  Heeren  was  strongly 
impressed  by  this  fact,  and  in  his  "  Researches"  spoke  of 
it  thus: 

"  From  the  remotest  times  to  the  present,  the  Ethiopians 
have  been  one  of  the  most  celebrated,  and  yet  the  most 
mysterious  of  nations.  In  the  earliest  traditions  of  nearly 
all  the  more  civilized  nations  of  antiquity,  the  name  of  this 
distant  people  is  found.  The  annals  of  the  Egyptian  priests 
were  full  of  them ;  the  nations  of  Inner  Asia,  on  the  Eu- 
phrates and  Tigris,  have  interwoven  the  fictions  of  the  Ethi- 
opians with  their  own  traditions  of  the  wars  and  conquests 
of  their  heroes ;  and,  at  a  period  equally  remote,  they  glim- 
mer in  Greek  mythology.  When  the  Greeks  scarcely  knew 
Italy  and  Sicily  by  name,  the  Ethiopians  were  celebrated 
in  the  verses  of  their  poets;  and  when  the  faint  gleam  of 
tradition  and  fable  gives  way  to  the  clear  light  of  history, 
the  lustre  of  the  Ethiopians  is  not  diminished.  They  still 
continue  to  be  objects  of  curiosity  and  admiration,  and  the 
pen  of  cautious,  clear-sighted  historians  often  places  them 
in  the  highest  rank  of  knowledge  and  civilization." 

To  Heeren  the  ancient  Ethiopians  were  "  mysterious"  as 
well  as  "  celebrated,"  because,  not  having  made  a  clear  dis- 
covery of  the  Cushite  race,  he  was  preoccupied  by  the  as- 
sumption that  Ethiopia  was  entirely  an  African  country. 
If  he  could  have  released  his  mind  from  this  assumption, 
and  inquired,  with  his  usual  sagacity,  what  the  old  tradi- 


Heeren  on  Ethiopia.  63 

tions  and  records  mean  by  the  term  Ethiopia,  he  would 
have  seen  the  mystery  dissipated  in  a  clear  light  of  intelli- 
gence, and  the  record  of  his  "  Researches"  would  present  a 
knowledge  of  the  old  Cushite  race,  and  of  their  native  coun- 
try, which  it  does  not  now  contain.  As  it  was,  no  investi- 
gator of  his  time  showed  more  penetration,  or  approached 
the  truth  so  nearly.  He  saw  that  a  single  race  (which  he 
calls  Semitic),  speaking  one  language  divided  into  various 
dialects, "  at  an  epoch  beyond  the  reach  of  history,  occupi- 
ed the  extensive  plains  between  the  Mediterranean  Sea  and 
the  Tigris,  the  most  southern  point  of  Arabia,  and  the  Cau- 
casian Mountains."  He  thinks  the  Phoenicians  belonged 
to  this  race,  and  says  "  it  appears  likely  that  they  came 
originally  from  Arabia."  He  also  finds  it  probable  that 
the  Arabians  gained  extensive  control  in  India  in  pre-his- 
toric  times,  and  that  "  distinct  Arabian  colonies  may  have 
been  settled  on  the  coasts  of  Hindustan."  Inquiring  at 
the  present  time,  he  would  comprehend  the  Ethiopians,  and 
discover  the  historic  importance  of  Arabia. 

The  ancient  Ethiopia,  or  Land  of  Cush,  of  Greek  and 
Hebrew  antiquity,  is  clearly  described  in  the  oldest  geo- 
graphical writings  of  the  Sanskrit  people  of  India.  This 
testimony,  no  less  remarkable  than  conclusive,  shows  the 
existence,  in  very  ancient  times,  of  a  great  Cushite  empire 
or  people,  occupying  Arabia  and  other  regions  in  Western 
Asia ;  and  it  is  noteworthy  that  the  old  Sanskrit  books,  like 
the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  describe  the  country  occupied  by 
this  people  as  Cusha-dwipa,  the  Land  or  Country  of  Cush.* 
The  old  Sanskrit  scheme  of  geography,  as  found  in  the  Pu- 

*  Tor  some  account  of  this  old  Farukrit  geography,  see  Wilford's  papers 
in  "Asiatic  Researches,"  vols.  iii.  and  viii. ;  and  also  Maurice's  "Ancient 
History  of  Hindustan,"  vol.  ii. 


Ci  Pre-IIistoric  Nations. 

ranas  and  other  ancient  writings,  divides  the  world  into 
seven  parts,  or  dwipas,  to  wit :  1.  Jambu-dwipa,  the  centre 
of  the  world  and  ancient  home  of  the  whole  Aryan  race ; 
2.  Anga-dwipa,  in  Northeastern  Asia,  the  scat  of  a  great 
Manchu  or  Mongol  people,  probably,  who,  in  later  times, 
successfully  invaded  China ;  3.  Yama-dwipa,  or  the  ancient 
Chinese  empire ;  4.  Yamala-dwipa,  which  included  the  pen- 
insula of  Malacca,  with  the  many  important  islands  of 
Southeastern  Asia,  anciently  occupied  by  that  great  and 
enterprising  Malayan  empire,  which  still  existed,  in  a  state 
of  weakness  and  decline,  when  the  Portuguese  first  went  to 
the  Indian  Ocean ;  5.  Sancha-dwipa,  which  meant  Africa  in 
general ;  6.  Cusha-dwipa,  the  Land  of  Cush,  which  com- 
prised Arabia  and  other  regions  extending  from  the  bor- 
ders of  India  to  the  Mediterranean ;  7.  Varaha-dwipa,  or 
Europe. 

In  this  geography  Cusha-dwipa  appears  as  one  of  the 
great  divisions  of  the  world,  not  on  account  of  its  position, 
which  alone  could  not  have  given  it  such  importance,  but 
evidently  on  account  of  the  importance  and  power  of  the 
civilized  people  by  whom  it  was  inhabited.  A  later  divi- 
sion of  the  world  added  six  new  dwipas,  or,  rather,  sub- 
dwipas,  contained  within  the  seven  great  dwipas.  Among 
these  we  find  a  second  Cusha-dwipa,  situated  in  Africa  be- 
yond the  straits  of  Bab-el-Mandeb,  and  called  Cusha-dwipa 
without,  or  the  exterior  Cusha-dwipa,  because  it  had  been 
created  by  emigration  and  colonization  from  the  original 
Cusha-dwipa,  now  called  Cusha-dwipa  within,  or  the  inte- 
rior Cusha-dwipa.  The  great  or  primal  Cusha-dwipa  is  de^ 
scribed  as  extending"  from  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean 
and  the  mouths  of  the  Nile  to  Sirhind  on  the  borders  of 
India." 


The  Sanskrit  Cusha-dwipa.  65 

The  old  Sanskrit  geographers  applied  the  term  Cusha- 
dwipa  to  very  nearly  the  same  regions  which  the  ancient 
Greeks  described  as  Ethiopia.  It  included  Arabia,  Asia 
Minor,  Syria  from  the  mouths  of  the  Nile,  Armenia,  the 
countries  on  the  Euphrates  and  Tigris,  a  large  part  of  the 
region  north  of  the  Persian  Gulf,  and,  finally,  an  extended 
region  in  Africa.  In  remote  pre-historic  times  it  was  the 
richest,  most  populous,  and  most  enlightened  poi'tion  of  the 
world.  Cusha-dwipa  was  in  two  parts ;  so,  according  to 
Homer  and  the  Greeks,  was  Ethiopia  "  divided"  into  two 
parts,  one  being  Asiatic  and  the  other  African.  All  ac- 
counts agree  in  stating  that  this  African  Cusha-dwipa  w*as 
created  by  emigration  from  Arabia  and  from  countries  con- 
nected with  it,  and  it  seems  to  have  extended  not  only 
northward,  but  also  down  the  southeastern  coast  of  Africa, 
and  so  far  into  the  interior  as  to  include  the  Soma-  Giri,  or 
Mountains  of  the  Moon,  and  the  lake  regions  around  the 
sources  of  the  Nile. 

The  geography  found  in  the  old  Sanskrit  books  is  mani- 
festly that  of  the  Aryans  before  they  entered  India,  and 
not  that  of  the  more  enterprising  and  traveled  Cushite 
race.  It  describes  the  world  as  a  circular  plain,  with  a 
slightly  convex  surface,  sloping  gently  on  all  sides  to  a 
surrounding  ocean.  Beyond  this  ocean,  which  inclosed  the 
world  in  a  vast  river-like  circle  of  waters,  was  a  circular 
range  of  mountains  supporting  the  ocean,  called  the  Loca- 
loca  Mountains,  beyond  which  none  but  the  most  powerful 
gods  could  pass.  In  the  centre  of  the  world,  at  the  high- 
est point  of  its  surface,  stood  Mount  Meru,  with  Jambu- 
dwipa,  the  primeval  home  of  the  Aryan  race,  spread  out 
around  it,  bordered  with  the  other  six  dwipas  or  grand  di- 
visions of  the  earth.  At  a  later  period  the  Hindu  scholars 


C6  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

obtained  more  correct  notions  of  the  world.     Ages  before 

o 

Copernicus,  Aryabhatta  taught  in  his  writings  that  "  the 
earth  is  a  sphere,  and  revolves  on  its  own  axis."  He 
learned  this,  probably,  from  the  Cushites. 

That  the  other  scheme  was  the  ancient  geography  of  the 
Aryan  race  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  it  was  carried  to  the 
Mediterranean  by  those  families  of  the  race  who  migrated 
westward  before  the  Sanskrit  people  occupied  Northern  In- 
dia. "VVe  find  it  in  Homer  and  Hesiod,  and  it  is  mentioned 
and  ridiculed  by  Herodotus,  who  says  (bk.  iv.,  ch.  xxxvi., 
Uuwlinson's  translation) :  "I  cannot  but  laugh  when  I  see 
numbers  of  persons  drawing  maps  of  the  world  without 
having  any  reason  to  guide  them,  making,  as  they  do,  the 
ocean  stream  to  run  all  round  the  earth,  and  the  earth  it- 
self to  be  an  exact  circle,  as  if  described  by  a  pair  of  com- 
passes." This  is  said  to  have  been  the  geographical  scheme 
of  the  Greeks  in  their  early  times ;  Herodotus  seems  to  say 
it  was  prevalent  among  "  the  Greeks  who  dwell  about  Pon- 
tus."  Its  existence  in  both  India  and  Greece  shows  that  it 
must  be  older  than  the  period  when  4>ese  branches  of  the 
Aryan  family  separated. 

It  would  be  unreasonable,  in  my  view,  to  deny  or  doubt 
that,  in  ages  farther  back  in  the  past  than  the  beginnings  of 
any  old  nation  mentioned  in  our  ancient  histories,  Arabia 
was  the  seat  of  a  great  and  influential  civilization.  This 
fact,  so  clearly  indicated  in  the  remains  of  antiquity,  seems 
indispensable  to  a  satisfactory  solution  of  many  problems 
that  arise  in  the  course  of  linguistic  and  archaeological  in- 
quiry. It  is  now  admitted  that  a  people  of  the  Cushite  or 
Ethiopian  race,  sometimes  called  Hamites,  were  the  first 
civilizers  and  builders  throughout  Western  Asia,  and  they 
are  traced,  by  remains  of  their  language,  their  architec- 


The  ancient .  Arabian  Civilization.  67 

ture,  and  the  influence  of  their  civilization,  on  both  shores 
of  the  Mediterranean,  in  Eastern  Africa  and  the  Nile  val- 
ley, in  Hindustan,  and  in  the  islands  of  the  Indian  Seas. 
These  people  had  a  country  which  was  the  home  of  their 
civilization.  These  civilizers,  this  "  third  race,"  now  so  dis- 
tinctly reported  by  scientific  investigators,  but  not  yet  well 
explained,  must  have  been  very  different  from  a  swarm  of 
nomads,  or  a  flood  of  disunited  tribes  moving  from  region 
to  region,  without  a  fixed  country  of  their  own.  Those 
wonderful  builders,  whose  traces  reveal  so  plainly  the 
habit  of  fixed  life  and  the  spirit  of  developed  nationality, 
were  not  a  horde  of  homeless  wanderers.  They  had  a 
country  of  their  own,  from  which  their  enterprise  and  cul- 
ture went  forth  to  other  lands,  and  this  country  must  have 
been  Arabia. 

It  is  apparent  that  no  other  race  did  so  much  to  devel- 
op and  spread  civilization ;  that  no  other  people  had  such 
an  extended  and  successful  system  of  colonization  ;  that 
they  seem  to  have  monopolized  the  agencies  and  activities 
of  commerce  by  sea  and  land ;  and  that  they  were  the  lord- 
ly and  ruling  race  of  their  time.  The  Arabians  were  the 
great  maritime  people  of  the  world  in  ages  beyond  the 
reach  of  tradition ; .  as  Phoenicians  and  Southern  Arabians 
they  controlled  the  seas  in  later  times,  and  they  were  still 
the  chief  navigators  and  traders  on  the  Indian  Ocean  when 
Vasquez  di  Gama  went  to  India  around  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope. 

IGNORANCE  AND  MISAPPREHENSION  CONCERNING  ARABIA. 

It  can  be  objected  that  the  common  estimate  of  the  Ara- 
bian peninsula  does  not  accord  with  such  views  of  its  an- 
cient history  as  I  have  indicated.  The  reply  is,  that  no 


68  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

part  of  the  globe  has  been  so  little  known  or  so  greatly 
misapprehended  in  modern  times  as  Arabia.  It  is  com- 
monly assumed  that  the  whole  interior  of  the  country  is  a 
dreary  waste  of  deserts,  and  that  the  only  portions  of  it 
where  civilized  communities  can  exist  are  certain  districts 
on  the  coast,  the  rest  of  this  great  peninsula  being  given 
up  to  nomads,  or  "  wandering  Arabs."  This  assumption, 
though  very  old  and  very  confident,  is  wholly  incorrect ; 
its  picture  of  Arabia  is  a  fancy  sketch  to  which  the  reality 
has  no  resemblance.  That  lack  of  knowledge  which  makes 
such  pictures  possible  is  due  partly  to  the  extreme  isolation 
of  the  Arabian  peninsula,  since  the  rise  of  Western  Europe 
changed  the  route  to  India,  and  took  away  its  commanding 
importance  as  the  central  country  between  India  and  the 
West,  and  partly  to  Mahomctanism  and  the  decline  of  civ- 
ilization in  Western  Asia.  But  its  isolation  from  the  West- 
ern countries  began  earlier.  The  later  Greeks  knew  but 
little  of  Arabia,  the  Romans  knew  less,  and  in  modern 
times  intelligent  travelers  have  journeyed  along  the  coast 
in  some  districts  of  the  Hedjaz,  Yemen,  Hadramaut,  and 
Oman  without  making  an  actual  discovery  of  the  coun- 
try. 

Lieut.  Wellsted  surveyed  nearly  the  whole  coast-line  of 
Arabia,  and  traveled  extensively  in  Oman,  and  yet  so  lit- 
tle did  he  know  of  Central  Arabia  that  the  printed  record 
of  his  travels  begins  as  follows:  "Arabia  has  been  aptly 
compared  to  a  coat  of  frieze  bordered  with  gold,  since  the 
only  cultivated  or  fertile  spots  are  found  on  its  confines, 
the  intermediate  space  being  filled  with  arid  and  sandy 
wastes."  Even  Ilumboldt,  relying  on  the  old  assumption 
and  the  reports  of  travelers,  supposed  "the  greater  part. 
of  the  interior  of  Arabia  was  a  barren,  treeless,  and  sandy 


Ignorance  of  Arabia.  69 

waste."  Ptolemy,  living  at  Alexandria,  gained  some  knowl- 
edge of  the  country,  which  appears  in  his  geography,  where 
cities  and  towns  are  located  in  the  interior;  but  in  Mr. 
Forster's  work  it  is  pointed  out  as  a  very  grave  mistake 
that  "  the  Ptolemaic  map  prepared  by  Mercator"  repre- 
sents the  "  uninhabitable  desert  as  clothed  throughout  with 
towns  and  covered  with  inhabitants."  In  the  same  way 
modern  ignorance  has  criticised  and  discredited  the  Ara- 
bian geography  of  El  Edrisi,  because,  as  it  alleges,  through 
"  invincible  dislike  to  large  blanks  in  a  map,"  he  filled  up 
"  the  uninhabited  country"  of  the  interior  with  towns  and 
villages.  Mr.  Forster's  notion  of  the  extent  of  this  "  unin- 
habited country"  may  be  seen  in  his  account  of  one  of  its 
deserts,  which,  according  to  his  description,  fills  two  thirds 
of  the  whole  peninsula.  Meanwhile  it  remains  true  that 
Ptolemy  and  El  Edrisi  had  a  much  better  knowledge  of 
Central  Arabia  than  is  possible  to  the  invincible  assurance 
of  such  imaginative  constructors  of  its  geography. 

In  1862-3,  Mr.  William  Gifford  Palgrave,  whose  long 
residence  at  the  EagSt,  intimate  knowledge  of  the  Mahometan 
world,  and  perfect  knowledge  of  the  Arabic  language  gave 
him  admirable  qualifications  for  such  a  tour  of  observation, 
spent  six  months  in  Central  Arabia,  traveling  through  it 
from  west  to  east.  He  tells  us  that  he  began  this  journey 
"  supposing,  like  most  people,  that  Arabia  was  almost  ex- 
clusively the  territory  of  nomads."  His  preparations  for 
"  traffic  and  intercourse  with  the  natives"  were  made  in  ac- 
cordance with  this  supposition,  which,  he  adds,  was  "a 
grievous  mistake,  of  which  we  soon  became  aware."  In- 
stead of  nomads  and  "  uninhabitable  wastes,"  he  found  a 
rich  and  beautiful  country,  a  settled  and  civilized  popula- 
tion, and,  throughout  nearly  the  whole  of  his  journey,  cities, 


TO  Pre-IIistoric  Nations. 

towns,  tillage,  and  regular  government,  "  where  Bedouins 
stand  for  little  or  nothing."  The  nomads,  found  chiefly  at 
the  north,  constitute  scarcely  one  seventh  of  the  population ; 
and  he  seeks  to  impress  upon  his  readers  that  the  wander- 
ing Bedouins  must  not  be  taken  as  representatives  of  the 
Arabian  race,  for  "  they  are  only  a  degenerate  branch  of 
that  great  tree,  not  its  root  or  main  stock"  In  a  word, 
they  are  a  debased  and  roving  population, "  grown  out  of 
and  around  the  fixed  nation,"  and  nowise  like  the  fancy- 
formed  "saijes  and  noblemen  of  the  desert"  shown  us  in 

O 

the  portrayals  of  romance. 

Mr.  Palgrave  discovered  that  Central  Arabia  is  an  ex- 
tensive and  fertile  table-land,  diversified  by  hills  and  val- 
leys, and  surrounded  by  a  circle  of  waste  and  desert  soil. 
He  estimates  that  this  great  plateau  comprises  nearly  half 
of  the  whole  peninsula,  or  about  500,000  square  miles, 
which  is  twice  the  extent  of  France.  He  found  it  occupied 
by  two  kingdoms,  Shomer  and  Nejed ;  the  former  contain- 
ing five  provinces,  Djebel  Shomer,  Djowf,  Kheybar,  Upper 
Kasseem,  and  Teyma;  and  the  latter  eleven  provinces, 
'Aared,  Yemamah,  Hareek,  Aflaj,  Wadi  Dowasir,  Seley'yel, 
Woshem,  Sedeyr,  Lower  Kasseem,  Hasa,  and  Kateef.  In 
reality,  there  seemed  to  be  but  one  nation  there ;  and,  in 
times  not  very  distant,  when  Kasseem  and  Sedeyr  were 
metropolitan  provinces,  there  wras,  probably,  but  one  su- 
preme government.  The  industry,  culture,  and  general 
condition  of  the  people  seemed  to  be  above  what  is  found 
in  the  neighboring  countries  of  Asia.  "  The  soil  belongs 
in  full  right  to  its  cultivators,  not  to  the  government,  as  in 
Turkey ;  nor  is  it  often  in  the  hands  of  large  proprietors, 
like  the  zemindars  of  India  or  the  wealthier  farmers  of 
England."  He  noticed  that  the  show  of  civilization  in- 


Palgrave  on  Central  Arabia.  71 

creased  as  he  proceeded  eastward.  In  the  province  of 
Sedeyr,  where  Mr.  Palgrave  seems  to  have  had  very  cordial 
communication  with  the  people,  he  found  "  elegant  and  co- 
pious hospitality,"  with  much  dignity  and  politeness  in  the 
manners  of  the  people.  He  says,  "  The  dominant  tone  of 
society,  especially  in  Sedeyr,  is  that  of  dignified  and  even 
refined  politeness." 

He  touched  the  kingdom  of  Shomer  first  at  Wadi  Serhan, 
and  came  soon  to  the  Djowf,  an  oasis  or  valley  belonging 
to  that  kingdom,  described  as  the  western  vestibule  to  the 
central  country.  It  is  fertile  and  very  beautiful,  and  has, 
besides  many  smaller  towns  and  villages,  two  cities  con- 
taining over  30,000  inhabitants.  Hayel,  the  capital  of 
Shomer,  "  surrounded  by  fortifications  twenty  feet  high, 
with  bastion  towers,  some  round,  some  square,  and  large 
folding  gates  at  intervals,"  had  from  20,000  to  22,000  in- 
habitants ;•  but  "  its  area  would  easily  hold  300,000  or  more, 
were  its  streets  and  houses  close  packed  like  those  of  Brus- 
sels or  Paris."  It  has  spacious  gardens  and  pleasure- 
grounds  within  the  walls,  while  the  plain  "  all  around  the 
town  is  studded  with  isolated  houses  and  gardens,  the 
property  of  wealthy  citizens."  All  along  the  ro^e  he 
traveled  were  towns  and  villages,  "  clean  and  pleasant,  and 
not  unlike  those  of  Jafnapatam  and  Ceylon." 

Coming  to  the  plain  of  Lower  Kasseem,  he  saw  it  as 
follows :  "  Before  us,  to  the  utmost  horizon,  stretched  an 
immense  plain,  studded  with  towns  and  villages,  towers 
and  gi'oves,  all  steeped  in  the  dazzling  noon,  and  announc- 
ing everywhere  opulence  and  activity."  Kasseem  is  an 
ancient  seat  of  Arabian  civilization.  Two  of  its  cities 
wThich  he  saw  contained,  one  over  thirty  thousand  inhab- 
itants, and  the  other  over  twenty-five  thousand.  Riad,  the 


72  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

capital  of  Nejed,  is  "  large  and  square,  with  high  towers 
and  strong  walls  of  defense,  a  mass  of  roofs  and  terraces," 
with  "  edifices  of  remarkable  appearance  here  and  there 
breaking  through  the  maze  of  gray  roof-tops ;  and  "  for 
full  three  miles  over  the  surrounding  plain  waved  a  sea  of 
palm-trees  above  green  fields  and  well-watered  gardens, 
while  southward  the  valley  opened  into  the  great  and  even 
more  fertile  plains  of  Yemamah,  filled  with  groves  and 
villages,  among  which  Manfoohah,  hardly  inferior  to  Kiad 
itself,  was  clearly  distinguished." 

Such,  in  reality,  is  that "  uninhabited  country,"  that  "vast 
and  dreary  world"  of  "arid  and  sandy  wastes,"  that  imag- 
ined land  of"  treeless  and  waterless  deserts" — Central  Ara- 
bia. The  extent  of  the  fertile  countries  along  the  coast 
had  already  become  known.  The  whole  peninsula  contains. 
over  a  million  square  miles,  and  probably  three  fourths  of 
it  are  now  excellent  for  cultivation.  In  the  great  days  of 
Ethiopian  supremacy  a  still  larger  portion  of  Arabia  was 
used  for  agricultural  purposes,  and  for  the  various  wants 
of  a  settled  population.  Even  now  a  sufficient  supply  of 
water  for  irrigation  would  transform  most  of  the  desert 
disti|pts  into  luxuriant  fields  and  gardens.  The  ancient 
Arabians  provided  for  this  want  by  means  of  immense 
tanks  similar  to  those  still  existing  in  Ceylon.  Mr.  Pal- 
grave  speaks  thus  of  the  Syrian  desert :  "  These  very  lands, 
now  so  utterly  waste,  were,  in  old  times,  and  under  a  bet- 
ter rule,  widely  cultivated,  and  full  of  populous  life,  as  the 
numerous  ruins  strewn  over  their  surface  still  attest."  The 
same  may  be  said  of  other  desert  districts  in  and  near 
Arabia.  There  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  very  consid- 
erable portions  of  the  desert  region  between  Xejed  and 
Hadramaut,  usually  called  "  the  Dahna,"  were  formerly 


The  Races  in  Arabia.  73 

cultivated,  and  occupied  by  towns,  villages,  and  planta- 
tions.* 

This  remarkable  country  had  no  lack  of  fitness  to  be  the 
home  of  a  great  people,  and  in  the  days  when  Balbec  and 
Petra  were  flourishing  cities,  and  Arabia  was  the  busy  com- 
mercial centre  of  the  civilized  world,  it  could  have  sup- 
ported a  hundred  million  people  as  easily  as  France  now 
sustains  forty  million.  It  had  no  lack  of  resources  for  the 
great  part  played  by  its  people  in  human  affairs.  If  En- 
gland and  Spain  could  colonize  and  fill  the  whole  Ameri- 
can continent  in  the  space  of  two  or  three  centuries,  what 
might  not  be  done  by  the  ancient  Arabians  in  the  course 
of  twenty  centuries  ?  The  great  power  and  far-reaching 
activity  of  this  people  had  declined  many  ages  before  the 
time  of  Ptolemy,  and  yet  he  enumerated  170  cities,  ports, 
and  large  towns  existing  in  his  time  within  the  region  de- 
scribed by  him  as  Arabia  Felix. 

THE    TWO  KACES   IN    AKABIA. 

At  the  present  time  Arabia  is  inhabited  by  two  distinct 
races,  namely,  descendants  of  the  old  Adite,  Cushite,  or 
Ethiopian  race,  known  under  various  appellations,  and 
dwelling  chiefly  at  the  south,  the  east,  and  in  the  central 
parts  of  the  country,  but  formerly  supreme  throughout  the 
whole  peninsula;  and  the  Semitic  Arabians  —  Mahomet's 
race — found  chiefly  in  the  Hedjaz  and  at  the  north.  In 
some  districts  of  the  country  these  races  are  more  or  less 

*  According  to  Arabian  tradition,  Ad,  the  primeval  father  of  the  pure 
Arabians,  settled  in  the  region  occupied  by  this  desert,  where  he  built  a 
city  that  became  great  and  powerful.  The  Mahometans  say  the  city  and 
people  were  destroyed  on  account  of  the  unbelieving  wickedness  of  the 
Adites. 

D 


74  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

mixed,  and  since  the  rise  of  Mahometanism  the  language 
of  the  Semites,  known  to  us  as  Arabic,  has  almost  wholly 
superseded  the  old  Ethiopian  or  Cushite  tongue ;  but  the 
two  races  are  very  unlike  in  many  respects,  and  the  dis- 
tinction has  always  been  recognised  by  writers  on  Arabian 
ethnology.  To  the  Cushite  race  belongs  the  oldest  and 
purest  Arabian  blood,  and  also  that  great  and  very  ancient 
civilization  whose  ruins  abound  in  almost  every  district  of 
the  country.  To  the  Semites  belong  the  originators  and 
first  preachers  of  Mahometanism,  and  also  the  nomads. 

The  Semites  claim  to  be  descendants  of  Ishmael,  and 
they  first  appeared  in  Arabia  at  a  period  comparatively 
modem,  probably  not  much  older  than  the  time  of  the  He- 
brew settlements  in  Canaan;  the  Cushites  are  connected 
with  the  oldest  traditions  of  the  country.  For  this  reason, 
the  Semitic  Arabs,  who  settled  at  the  north  and  in  the 
Hedjaz,  have  always  given  precedence  to  the  Arabians  of 
the  central  and  southern  districts,  and  conceded  their  su- 
perior antiquity.  In  Arabic  speech  the  Arabians  of  the 
old  race  are  called  Arilah,  that  is  to  say,  Arabians  of  pure 
blood,  Arabians  par  excellence,  while  those  of  Mahomet's 
race  are  described  as  Moustarribes,  people  of  foreign  origin, 
who  were  grafted  on  the  pure  stock  by  the  marriage  of 
Ishmael  with  a  princess  of  the  Cushite  race. 

Heretofore  both  tradition  and  the  Oriental  historians 
have  agreed  in  saying  that  in  ancient  times  a  language 
was  spoken  in  Arabia  wholly  different  from  the  Arabic  of 
Mahomet.  Modern  research  has  confirmed  this  statement. 
That  old  language  has  been  discovered.  We  have  it  in 
what  are  called  the  Himyaric  inscriptions;  and  modern 
dialects  of  it  are  still  spoken  in  two  or  three  districts  of 
the  peninsula,  and  to  a  considerable  extent  in  Eastern  and 


Mahometanism  and  the  old  Race.  75 

Northern  Africa,  where  it  is  written  as  well  as  spoken.  It 
is  found,  also,  in  the  ruins  of  Chaldea ;  and,  in  remote  an- 
tiquity, it  seems  to  have  been  spoken  throughout  most  of 
Western  Asia,  and  also  in  Hindustan,  where  it  is  probably 
represented  at  the  present  time,  in  a  corrupted  form,  by 
the  group  of  languages  called  Dravidian.  It  cannot  prop- 
erly be  classed  in  the  same  family  with  the  Arabic,  but  is 
closely  related  to  the  old  Egyptian.  It  has  been  called  "  a 
new  form  of  speech,"  because  it  was  new  to  those  who  first 
discovered  it ;  but  it  is  very  ancient,  existing  now  only  in 
disentombed  inscriptions,  in  sentences  preserved,  without 
history,  on  the  stones  and  rocks  of  old  ruins,  and  in  frag- 
mentary and  obscure  communities  representing  the  great 
pre-historic  people  by  whom  it  was  used.  In  the  termin- 
ology of  linguistic  science,  this  language  is  called  Ethiopic, 
Cushite,  and  sometimes  Hamitic. 

Mahometan  fanaticism  applied  the  term  "Djohal,"  or 
"Ignorants"  (or  anti-Christ,  as  Christians  might  say),  to  all 
who  dwelt  in  Arabia  previous  to  the  advent  of  its  prophet ; 
and  the  fierce  blaze  of  this  fanaticism  consumed  the  old 
Cushite  orTEthiopian  literature,  in  which  it  saw  nothing 
represented  but  accursed  thoughts  and  feelings  of  the  previ- 
ous ages  of"  heathenish  wickedness."  The  strange  tongue 
of  the  "  godless  Djohal,"  which  gradually  fell  into  disuse, 
made  this  destruction  easy ;  but,  as  we  can  see  in  Ma- 
hometan literature,  there  remained  a  prevailing  conscious- 
ness of  the  great  eminence,  influence,  and  antiquity  of  the 
old  race ;  and  the  wealth  of  the  old  culture  in  Arabia,  Phoe- 
nicia, and  Syria  is  seen  in  the  superior  development  of  the 
Arabic  language,  in  the  civilization  that  gave  such  lustre 
to  the  empire  of  the  caliphs,  and  in  the  knowledge  of  sci- 
ence and  philosophy  brought  to  Western  Europe  by  the 


76  P re-Historic  Nations. 

Saracens.  This  ineradicable  consciousness  of  a  great  an- 
cient history  of  the  Arabian  Cushites  appears  in  the  studi- 
ed attempts  of  Mahometan  historians  and  traditionists  to 
connect  with  them  the  origin  of  Mahomet's  race.  Mahomet, 
they  say,  inherited  the  purest  of  the  "  blue  blood"  through 
the  marriage  of  an  ancestor  with  a  princess  of  Yemen  ;  and 
one  tradition,  which  has  been  issued  in  many  editions,  rep- 
resents that  Joktan,  son  of  Heber,  recognised  for  this  pur- 
pose as  the  most  ancient  father  of  the  Semitic  Arabians, 
was  identical  with  Kali  tan  of  Cushite  history,  described  as 
the  first  king  of  Yemen. 

These  Mahometan  inventions  have  confused  and  falsified 
the  traditions  of  Arabian  antiquity.  William  Muir,  in  the 
introduction  to  his  learned  and  elaborate  life  of  Mahomet, 
says :  The  identification  of  Joktan  with  Kahtan  "  is  one  of 
those  extravagant  fictions  which  the  followers  of  Islam,  in 
their  zeal  to  accommodate  Arabic  legends  to  the,  Jewish 
Scriptures,  have  made  in  defiance  of  the  most  violent  im- 
probability and  the  grossest  anachronisms."  He  adds: 
"  It  is  no  better  than  that  of  the  Medina  party,  who  tried 
to  prove  that  Kahtan  was  a  descendant  of  Ishmael,  and 
therefore  had  no  connection  with  Joktan."  The  Joktan 
invention  is  treated  in  the  same  way  by  Caussin  de  Perce- 
val. These  fictions  are  not  as  old  as  Mahometanism ;  and 
their  chief  purpose  was  to  connect  the  founders  of  this  re- 
ligion with  the  prestige  of  the  more  ancient  race,  which 
still  lived  in  the  popular  mind  throughout  the  peninsula. 

The  connection  of  the  Arabian  Semites  with  the  Hebrews, 
to  whom  they  had  claimed  relationship  through  Ishmael, 
was  older  than  Mahomet,  and  had  made  them  acquainted 
with  the  Hebrew  Scriptures.  When,  under  the  lead  of  Ma- 
homet, they  first  emerged  from  obscurity,  and  aspired  to 


The  Races  in  Arabia.  77 

lordly  supremacy  in  the  whole  country,  they  began  to  ap- 
propriate to  themselves  the  antiquity  and  the  great  names 
of  the  old  Ethiopians,  or  Cushites,  whose  grand  career  had 
long  since  closed.  Then  arose  the  legends  that  sought  to 
ennoble  Mahomet's  race  by  giving  it  the  oldest  Arabian 
blood,  and  even  attempted  to  Semitize  the  Cushites  by 
transforming  the  ancient  Kahtan  of  that  race  into  their 
imagined  or  traditional  ancestor,  Joktan. 

In  reality,  neither  history  nor  tradition  has  knowledge 
of  more  than  two  races  in  Arabia — the  very  ancient  Cush- 
ites, who  were  a  great  and  enterprising  people  in  remote 
pre-historic  times,  and  the  Arabian  Semites,  who  were  not 
there  during  the  grand  periods  of  Arabian  ancient  history, 
and  did  not  appear  there  until  many  centuries  after  the 
extended  empire  of  the  Cushites,  or  Ethiopians,  had  de- 
clined and  become  disunited.  These  Arabic  Semites,  who 
have  chiefly  occupied  attention,  and  whose  history  has 
been  allowed  to  obscure  the  ancient  and  true  Arabians, 
were  an  unimportant,  and  probably  a  nomadic  people, 
when  they  first  appeared  in  the  country,  and  they  remained 
very  obscure  until  the  beginning  of  the  seventh  century 
after  the  Christian  Era.  They  are  generally  called  Mous- 
tarribes  by  their  own  writers,  while  those  of  the  ancient 
race  are  called  Aribah,  or  Arabians  of  the  oldest  and  se- 
lectest  blood.  Ibn-Dihhyah,  an  Arabic  historian,  keeping 
up  the  fiction  about  Joktan,  in  a  modified  form,  describes 
three  distinct  classes  of  Arabians — the  Aribah,  the  most 
ancient  tribes  of  Arabian  tradition ;  the  Moutarribes,  cre- 
ated, though  not  clearly  defined,  by  the  Joktan  fable ;  and 
the  Moustarribes,  or  descendants  of  Ishmael.  His  Mou- 
tarribes  may  be  dismissed  from  consideration.  Mahometan 
writers  cannot  be  safely  trusted  when  they  touch  this  ques- 


78  Pre-Histotic  Nations. 

tion  of  Arabian  ethnology,  discourse  about  Joktan,  and 
seek  to  connect  the  race  of  their  prophet  with  everything 
ancient  or  great  in  Arabian  history. 

CONCERNING  THE   OLD   RACE. 

According  to  Arabian  tradition,  the  old  race,  or  the  Cush- 
ites,  consisted  originally  of  twelve  tribes,  with  the  follow- 
ing designations — Ad,  Thamoud,  Tasm,  Djadis,  Amlik,  Ou- 
mayim,  Abil,  Djourhoum,  Wabar,  Jasm,  Antem,  and  Hash- 
en.  Some  writers  mention  only  nine  ancient  tribes  of  pure, 
unmixed  Arabians ;  others  mention  more  than  twelve.  As 
these  traditions  were  not  created  by  Mahometan  assump- 
tion, they  may  preserve  recollections  of  ancient  names  of 
tribal  communities,  or  of  cities  and  districts  organized  as 
separate  municipalities,  and  governed  by  hereditary  chiefs 
subordinate  to  the  supreme  authority.  I  shall  endeavor 
to  show  that  this  method  of  political  organization  was  a 
marked  peculiarity  of  the  Cushites.  One  of  the  names, 
Amlik,  is  biblical,  being  the  same  as  Amalek.  The  saying, 
"  old  as  Ad,"  is  used  in  Arabia  to  designate  the  remotest 
period  in  the  past ;  but  we  have  no  means  to  determine  ei- 
ther the  antiquity  or  the  historical  facts  that  may  be  indi- 
cated by  these  traditional  names.  In  the  traditions,  the 
ancient  people  to  whom  they  are  applied  are  described  as 
wonderful  builders,  who  were  rich  in  gold,  silver,  and  pre- 
cious stones.  They  have  glowing  descriptions  of  the  mag- 
nificent cities  and  sumptuous  palaces  of  the  Adites  and  the 
Thamoudites. 

But,  as  I  have  shown,  we  have  more  conclusive  testimony 
than  Arabic  tradition  to  indicate  that  Arabia  was  the  land 
of  Cush,  or  Ethiopia ;  and  the  great  and  extended  influence 
of  the?  Cushite  race  in  distant  pre-historic  times  is  now  a<l- 


The  pure  Cushites  nearly  extinct.  79 

mitted  by  all  careful  investigators.  The  Arabic  Semites 
were  a  foreign  people,  very  modern  in  Arabian  history,  and 
had  nothing  to  do  with  the  country  in  the  ancient  times 
concerning  which  we  inquire.  That  old  Cushite  race,  so 
great  and  influential  in  its  time,  and  so  intimately  connect- 
ed with  the  most  ancient  civilization  of  which  we  have  any 
knowledge,  has  almost  wholly  disappeared  from  the  earth 
by  mingling  with  other  races  in  the  widely-separated  re- 
gions where  it  established  colonies  and  civilization ;  with 
the  Aryans,  and  perhaps  with  an  aboriginal  population,  in 
Southern  and  Western  Europe ;  with  Semites  and  Aryans 
in  Western  Asia ;  with  Semites  in  Arabia,  and  with  a  dark 
brown  race  found  by  the  ancient  Cushites  in  India  and 
Africa,  But  few  communities  of  pure  Cushite  blood  can 
now  be  found  even  in  Arabia.  Its  great  mission  was  ful- 
filled in  the  grandest  way  centuries  before  the  beginning 
of  what  is  called  authentic  history,  and  now  we  have  only 
scanty  remains  of  either  the  race  or  its  language.  The 
great  natural  superiority  of  this  race  is  still  manifest  wher- 
ever it  is  found  with  a  tolerable  approach  to  purity  of 
blood. 

Some  communities  of  the  old  race  found  in  Arabia  claim 
to  have  unmixed  blood.  They  strongly  impressed  Mr.  Pal- 
grave,  who  invites  attention  to  them.  At  the  northwest, 
where  the  Semites  settled,  there  has  been  a  greater  decline 
of  civilization  than  elsewhere.  Mr.  Palgrave  points  out 
that  the  show  of  civilization  increased  as  he  proceeded 
through  the  peninsula  from  Ma'an  towards  the  east ;  and, 
after  much  communication  with  the  inhabitants  of  cities 
and  towns  along  his  route,  he  recorded  and  published  his 
opinion  of  the  people  as  follows :  "  After  having  traveled 
much,  and  made  pretty  intimate  acquaintance  with  many 


80  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

races,  African,  Asiatic,  and  European,  I  should  hardly  be  in- 
clined to  give  the  preference  to  any  other  over  the  genuine 
unmixed  clans  of  Central  and  Eastern  Arabia."  He  says 
they  represent  "  one  of  the  noblest  races  earth  affords," 
but  does  not  appear  to  comprehend  the  real  significance 
of  these  fragments  of  the  old  Cushite  race,  once  so  grand 
and  powerful,  now  almost  hidden  from  observation  among 
living  races.  He  says  again,  in  another  part  of  his  book, 
"  I  am  inclined  to  regard  the  Arabians,  taken  in  themselves 
and  individually,  as  endowed  with  remarkable  aptitude  for 
practical  and  material  science,  and  hardly  less  adapted  to 
the  railroad,  to  the  steam-ship,  or  to  any  other  nineteenth 
century  invention  or  natural  research,  than  the  natives  of 
Sheffield  or  Birmingham  themselves ;  but  lack  of  commu- 
nication with  other  countries  has  kept  them  back  in  the 
intellectual  race."  It  would  not  be  reasonable  to  doubt 
the  natural  capacity  of  a  race  whose  people  were  anciently 
represented  by  the  marvelous  manufacturing  skill  and  com- 
mercial power  of  Sidon  and  Tyre.  Arabia,  once  foremost, 
has  been  made  the  obscurest  of  countries  by  great  changes 
in  the  seats  and  routes  of  commerce.  The  Cushite  race  has 
not  been  "  kept  back"  from  a  great  part  in  human  affairs ; 
it  has  declined  from  a  great  position,  and  was  made  ob- 
scure by  that  influence  of  time  which  brought  the  world's 
great  changes  and  made  another  race  imperial. 

ANCIENT   ARABIAN   RUINS   AND   INSCRIPTIONS. 

Ruins  representing  ancient  civilization  exist  in  every 
part  of  Arabia,  from  Balbec  and  Petra  to  Mareb  and  Zh:i- 
far.  They  have  not  been  carefully  explored,  and  only  a 
few  of  them  have  been  visited.  No  excavations  have  been 
made,  but  a  considerable  number  of  Cushite  or  Hiinyaric 


First  Discovery  of  Inscriptions.  81 

inscriptions  have  been  secured  that  furnish  important  in- 
formation concerning  the  language  and  race  of  the  ancient 
inhabitants  of  the  country.  None  of  the  ruins  already  vis- 
ited belong  to  the  earlier  periods  of  Arabian  ancient  histo- 
ry, and  it  is  nowise  likely  that  ruins  representing  times  so 
very  remote  still  exist  for  examination ;  nevertheless,  some 
of  those  to  which  attention  has  been  drawn  are  very  old. 

The  discovery  of  these  antiquities,  especially  the  inscrip- 
tions, seems  to  have  been  connected  incidentally  with  meas- 
ures taken  by  the  English  to  facilitate  communication  with 
India  through  Egypt  and  the  Red  Sea.  About  thirty-five 
years  ago,  nearly  the  whole  coast-line  of  Arabia  was  sur- 
veyed or  carefully  explored  by  naval  expeditions  fitted  out 
by  the  British  East  India  Company.  Some  of  the  accom- 
plished officers  engaged  in  these  surveys  traveled  in  Oman 
and  Hadramaut,  and  visited  ruins  in  Yemen  and  along  the 
shores  of  the  Red  Sea.  Among  those  who  made  important 
discoveries  were  Lieutenants  Wellsted  andCruttenden,Dr. 
Hulton,  and,  later,  Captain  Haines.  Carsten  Niebuhr  had 
previously  reported  the  existence  of  inscriptions,  and  two 
or  three  had  been  very  imperfectly  copied  by  Dr.  Seetzcn. 

Wellsted  and  Cruttenden  made  the  first  discovery  of 
Himyaric  inscriptions  that  were  carefully  copied.  Well- 
sted visited  important  ruins  at  Nakab-el-Hadjar,  between 
Hadramaut  and  Yemen.  He  found  there  the  remains  of 
an  immense  wall,  originally  from  thirty  to  forty  feet  high, 
and  ten  feet  thick  at  the  foundation.  It  was  built  around 
a  hill  of  considerable  extent,  on  a  line  above  the  base,  and 
was  flanked  by  square  towers  standing  at  equal  distances 
from  each  other.  The  blocks  of  grayish  marble,  of  which 
it  was  built,  were  hewn  and  fitted  by  the  builders  with 
surprising  nicety,  indicating  science  and  skill  in  construc- 

D2 


82  Pre-JIistoric  Nations. 

tion  of  a  high  order.  Within  the  inclosure  were  the  re- 
mains of  edifices  by  which  the  slopes  of  the  hill  had  been 
covered.  Wellsted  says  of  the  wall :  "  The  magnitude  of 
the  stones  used,  and  the  perfect  knowledge  of  the  builder's 
art  exhibited  in  the  style  and  mode  of  placing  them  to- 
gether, with  its  towers  and  great  extent,  would  give  this 
structure  importance  in  any  part  of  the  world."  Describ- 
ing one  of  the  ruined  buildings,  he  says :  "  That  it  owes  its 
origin  to  very  remote  antiquity  is  evident  by  its  appear- 
ance alone,  which  bears  strong  resemblance  to  similar  edi- 
fices found  amidst  Egyptian  ruins.  We  have  the  same  in- 
clination of  the  walls  as  in  them,  the  same  form  of  entrance, 
and  the  same  flat  roof  of  stones."  Important  inscriptions 
in  the  old  language  and  character,  found  on  the  smooth 
face  of  the  great  blocks  of  stone  at  this  place,  were  copied. 

M.  Fulgence  Fresnel,  in  the  Journal  Asiatigue,  discussing 
Wellsted's  discoveries  at  Nakab-el-Hadjar,  is  sure,  and  with 
good  reason,  that  these  ruins  mark  the  site  of  the  ancient 
city  of  Meyfah,  which,  he  thinks,  is  the  same  as  the  "  Mem- 
pha"  of  Ptolemy.  It  is  undoubtedly  the  same  as  the  old 
city  of  "Mepha,"  not  "  Mempha,"  which  Ptolemy  places  in 
the  valley  of  Meyfah,  where  these  ruins  are  found. 

Among  the  ruins  visited  by  Wellsted  are  those  at  His'n 
Ghorab,  on  the  coast  in  the  same  region.  His'n  or  Hassan 
Ghorab  is  a  hill  about  five  hundred  feet  high.  It  is  now 
connected  with  the  main  land  by  a  low,  sandy  isthmus,  but 
was  formerly  an  island.  All  around  it,  and  scattered  over 
its  slopes  to  the  summit,  are  ruins  of  houses,  walls,  and 
towers.  It  is  a  remarkable  field  of  ruins,  some  parts  of 
which  are  almost  inaccessible.  Everything  indicates  that 
a  commercial  emporium  formerly  stood  here — a  city  which 
in  ancient  times  must  have  been  of  the  first  importance. 


The  Ruins  at  Zhafar.  83 

It  is  doubtless,  as  Fresnel  and  others  suppose,  the  site  of 
that  celebrated  commercial  emporium  anciently  known  as 
the  city  of  Kana.  Here,  too,  Himyaric  inscriptions,  en- 
graved on  the  smooth  face  of  the  rock,  were  discovered 
and  copied  by  the  English  visitors. 

On  the  coast,  in  the  northern  part  of  Hadramaut,  are  the 
ruins  of  a  great  commercial  city  called  Zhafar,  the  Sapphar 
of  Ptolemy,  and  supposed  to  be  the  Saphar  of  the  Hebrew 
Scriptures.  The  name  Zhafar  is  now  applied  to  a  series 
of  villages  situated  on  and  near  the  coast.  It  is  supposed 
that  the  ancient  Zhafar,  or  Saphar,  stood  at  some  distance 
from  the  sea,  and  was  connected  with  it  by  a  port  or  second 
city  at  the  place  called  El  Belid  in  Arabic,  and  Kharekham 
in  the  Ehkkili  or  Himyaric  tongue ;  but  these  ruins,  said 
to  be  very  remarkable — "  splendid  ruins"  Fresnel  calls  them 
• — have  not  been  explored  as  carefully  as  their  importance 
demands.  Perhaps  what  have  been  mentioned  as  sites  of 
the  city  and  its  port  are  in  reality  sites  of  an  old  and  a 
new  town,  a  Pa3lus-Zhafar  •  and  a  New  Zhafar.  Both  are 
now  desolate.  The  "  splendid  ruins"  are  found  at  the  place 
called  El  Belid,  where  the  blocks  of  stone  used  by  the  arch- 
itects, cut  with  geometrical  precision,  show  marvelous  per- 
fection in  the  workmanship  of  the  builders.  It  is  evident 
that  the  whole  district  now  called  Zhafar  would  yield  rich 
results  to  careful  investigation  by  competent  explorers. 

In  July,  1843,  Thomas  Jos.  Arnaud,  a  French  gentleman, 
visited  the  ruins  of  the  very  ancient  city  in  the  interior  of 
Yemen  known  as  Saba,  and  also  as  Mareb  and  Mariaba.* 

*  Abulfeda  says:  "There  are  some  who  say  that  Mareb  was  the  sur- 
name of  a  king  who  reigned  over  Yemen ;  but  others  say  that  Mareb 
was  the  royal  arsenal,  and  that  the  city  was  Saba,"  which  seems  most 
probable. 


84  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

He  is  the  first  European  who  has  visited  those  ruins  in 
modem  tunes  and  returned  in  safety.  Arnaud  went  to 
Saba  from  San'a,  remained  there  four  days,  and  returned 
to  the  coast  by  the  same  road.  He  was  five  days  on  the 
road  from  San'a  to  Saba.  "Within  a  day's  journey  of  Saba 
he  found  very  extensive  and  noteworthy  ruins  of  a  great 
city,  which  he  could  not  examine  carefully.  They  occupy 
"a  spacious  site"  on  the  great  plain  of  Kharibah.  lie  was 
told  of  other  ruins  in  that  part  of  the  country,  which  he 
did  not  see,  and  particular  mention  was  made  of  ruins  of 
an  ancient  city  situated  about  a  day's  journey  northeaster- 
ly from  Kharibah.  A  village  called  Mareb,  surrounded 
by  extensive  ruins,  is  all  that  now  remains  of  the  ancient 
and  celebrated  Saba,  once  the  populous  and  magnificent 
capital  of  Southern  Arabia.  At  one  period  the  whole 
country  was  known  to  the  Greeks  as  Saba  (called  Sheba  in 
the  Hebrew  Scriptures),  and  the  people  as  Saba?ans ;  and 
language  scarcely  sufficed  to  express  their  conception  of 
its  riches  and  magnificence. 

At  Mareb  Arnaud  examined  what  remains  of  the  "  Great 
Dike,"  or  tank,  so  famous  in  Arabic  tradition,  but  he  does 
not  describe  it  satisfactorily.  The  embankment  appears 
to  have  been  a  very  long  and  exceedingly  massive  struc- 
ture, and  he  tells  us  that  the  basin  of  the  tank  or  reservoir 
was  a  depression  between  two  mountains  called  "  Balak." 
This  dike  is  probably  one  of  the  oldest  structures  in  Ara- 
bia of  which  we  have  any  knowledge.  The  history  of  its 
origin  was  lost  before  the  time  of  Queen  Belkis,  who  is  sup- 
posed to  have  lived  in  the  age  of  Solomon,  but  may  have 
lived  at  an  earlier  period.  It  was  then  so  very  ancient 
•  that  the  solid  and  vast  embankment  was  going  to  decay 


Antiquity  of  the  Dike  Arim.  85 

through  age.*  Queen  Belkis  repaired  it,  but  her  repairs 
did  not  restore  its  original  strength,  for,  a  few  ages  later, 
it  burst  with  such  disaster  to  the  whole  district  as  made 
the  event  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  Yemen. 

Some  writers,  whose  facility  in  reading  Oriental  lan- 
guages is  far  superior  to  their  capacity  for  comprehending 
archaeological  facts,  and  studying  antiquity  with  penetrat- 
ing intelligence,  have  allowed  themselves  to  talk  in  a 
doubtful,  hesitating  way  in  support  of  the  strange  and 
most  incomprehensible  vagary  that  this  dike  was  not  built 
earlier  than  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  Era.  They  for- 
get that  it  was  incontestably  as  old  as  the  ancient  city  of 
Saba,  if  not  much  older,  and  that  both  the  city  and  the 
dike  had  decayed  long  before  Christ.  Mahometan  assump- 
tion itself  never  invented  a  more  unwarranted,  a  more  ex- 
travagant, or  a  more  senseless  fiction. 

Wellsted  mentions  the  ruins  of  Kilhat,  on  the  southern 
coast  of  Oman,  which  "  cover  an  extensive  tract,"  and  he 
was  told  of  other  ruins  in  the  interior  which  he  could  not 
visit.  Strabo,  Pliny,  Ptolemy,  antl  others,  as  well  as  the 
Hebrew  writers,  speak  of  great  cities  in  Arabia  which  no 
longer  exist.  We  can  not  well  doubt  that  diligent  explo- 
ration would  bring  to  light  numerous  ruins  of  great  impor- 
tance to  archaeologists  which  at  present  are  entirely  un- 
known, and  which  the  present  inhabitants  of  the  country 
cannot  explain,  The  Mahometan  natives  residing  near  the 

*  Hamza  of  Ispahan  says  ;  "  The  Himyarites  relate  that  Belkis,  having 
become  qeeen,  built  in  Saba  the  dike  called  Arim.  The  other  inhabitants 
of  Yemen  dispute  this,  and  maintain  that  the  dike  Arim  was  constructed 
by  Lokman,  the  second  son  of  Ad ;  and  they  say  that  time  having  brought 
it  to  a  condition  of  decay,  Belkis,  on  becoming  queen,  repaired  the  dam- 
age it  had  suffered."  See  L'Univers,  vol.  x.,  p.  53. 


86  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

ruins  visited  by  Wellsted  said,  in  reply  to  his  inquiries, 
that  these  old  cities  were  built  by  their  "  infidel"  ances- 
tors. He  pointed  out  to  them  that  their  "  infidel"  ancestors 
must  have  been  vastly  superior  to  the  present  generation 
of  Arabians,  and  capable  of  much  greater  works ;  to  which 
they  answered  that  their  ancestors  were  assisted  by  "  Jins," 
or  "  Devils."  Wellsted's  suggestion  has  more  significance 
than  he  himself  seems  to  have  appreciated.  Whether  we 
study  Arabia  in  its  traditions,  in  its  ruins,  in  the  remains 
of  its  old  language,  or  in  the  present  characteristics  and 
condition  of  its  people,  we  cannot  easily  evade  the  conclu- 
sion that  this  country  was  anciently  the  seat  of'a  great  civ- 
ilization, that  declined  from  its  highest  condition  long  be- 
fore the  Christian  Era,  and  of  which  only  traces  of  its  im- 
pression on  the  country,  and  confused  recollections  of  its 
greatness,  still  exist. 

The  old  Arabian  or  Cushite  inscriptions  found  in  El  Har- 
rah,  a  part  of  the  region  justly  described  as  "  the  remarka- 
ble country  south  of  Damascus,"  belong  to  Arabia.  3Ir. 
Cyril  C.  Graham  gave  aW  account  of  them  in  the  "  Asiatic 
Journal5*  for  1860.  El  Harrah  is  southeast  and  east  of 
Hauran,  where  ruined  or  deserted  cities  exist  with  the 
houses  still  nearly  perfect.  In  El  Harrah  Mr.  Graham 
found  similar  remains  of  cities,  with  abundant  inscriptions. 
He  tells  us  that  when  copies  of  the  inscriptions  were  laid 
before  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  "  a  high  authority"  de- 
clared them  to  be  "  the  most  ancient  form  of  Phoenician 
writing  yet  seen."  Also,  "  Barth  was  immediately  struck 
with  their  great  similitude  to  the  inscriptions  of  the  Tou- 
aricks."  He  mentions  reports  of  similar  inscriptions  in 
Jebel  Shammar,  and  adds  that  "Wallin  secured  two  in- 
scriptions at  Belad  Sof,  in  Central  Arabia,"  like  those  at 


A  Stonehenge  in  Arabia.  87 

El  Harrah,  and  that  "he  found  these  characters  constantly 
recurring."  One  of  the  alphabetic  Characters  in  these  in- 
scriptions is  found  nowhere  else  save  among  the  Runic 
letters,  and  another  only  in  the  Etruscan  alphabet.  Such 
antiquities  abound  in  the  mysterious  land  of  Cush,  but 
they  have  not  been  explored,  and  in  many  respects  Arabia 
is  still  an  undiscovered  country. 

Mr.  Palgrave's  lack  of  opportunities  to  study  Arabian 
antiquities,  and  perhaps  a  not  very  active  interest  in  this 
department  of  study,  did  not  enable  him  to  add  much  to 
our  knowledge  of  the  ruins  and  other  remains  of  the  an- 
cient condition  of  the  country.  But,  in  his  account  of  the 
old  castle  at  Menamah,  on  the  largest  of  the  Bahreyn  isl- 
ands, we  can  see  how  strongly  that  venerable  structure 
invites  attention.  He  points  out  the  ruins  in  the  Syrian 
Desert,  and  he  notices  in  the  construction  of  the  old  castle 
at  the  Djowf  evidence  of  its  very  great  antiquity.  This 
castle  has  been  several  times  rebuilt  in  part,  or  repaired,  so 
that  only  the  south  wall  now  preserves  its  first  line  of  con- 
struction. In  this  wall,  "  the  huge  size  and  exact  squaring 
of  the  stones  in  the  lower  tiers  indicate  the  early  date  of 
the  fabric,  while  several  small  windows,  at  a  height  of  ten 
or  twelve  feet  from  the  ground,  are  topped  by  what  is 
called  the  Cyclopean  arch,  a  specimen  of  which  may  yet 
be  seen  in  the  so-called  palace  of  Atreus  at  Mycenae."  In 
Kasseem  he  found  the  remains  of  an  ancient  structure  sim- 
ilar to  Stonehenge  in  England,  and  he  learned  from  his 
Arabian  companions  that  two  others  like  it  could  be  found 
in  districts  not  far  away  from  his  route,  which  they  named.* 
He  says, "  There  is  little  difference  between  the  stone  won- 
der of  Kasseem  and  that  of  Wiltshire,  except  that  one  is 
*  See  Palgrave's  Travels  in  Central  Arabia,  vol.  i.,  p.  251. 


88  ^Pre-IIistoric  Nations. 


in  Arabia,  and  the  other,  more  perfect,  in  England."  The 
huge  stones,  standing  on  end,  about  fifteen  feet  high,  were 
arranged  in  a  circle  like  those  of  Stonehenge.  These  struc- 
tures evidently  had  the  same  purpose,  and  the  builders  in 
each  case  were  directed  by  the  same  thought. 

THE    ANCIENT   ARABIAN   LANGUAGE. 

In  some  respects,  the  most  important  discovery  made  in 
Arabia  is  that  which  brings  to  light  the  old  language  of 
the  country,  and  shows  its  affinity  with  that  of  Egj^pt  and 
of  Western  Asia  in  the  earliest  times.  In  these  studies 
nothing  is  more  reliable  than  the  historical  revelations  of 
the  science  of  language.  They  present  facts  which  no  ro- 
mancing of  tradition  or  mythology  can  obscure.  It  has 
been  determined  by  scientific  inquiry  that  the  people  who 
first  established  civilization  in  Western  Asia  used  a  lan- 
guage that  has  been  called  Cushite,  or  Hamitic.  Some 
scholars,  like  George  Rawlinson,  attracted  by  the  fanciful 
linguistic  scheme  of  Bunsen,  have  suggested  a  derivation 
of  this  language  from  the  "Turanian,"  a  designation  that 
has  no  very  definite  meaning  in  the  science  of  language, 
and  which  at  first  was  used  loosely  to  include  nearly  all 
languages  that  could  not  be  classed  as  either  Aryan  or 
Semitic.  Hence  Mr.  Rawlinson  sometimes  talks  of  the  ear- 
liest speech  of  Western  Asia  as  "Turanian,"  but  points  out 
that  it  was  developed  there  as  the  Hamitic,  or  Cushite 
tongue,  which  in  the  most  ancient  times  prevailed  "  from 
the  Caucasus  to  the  Indian  Ocean,  and  from  the  shores  of 
the  Mediterranean  to  the  mouths  of  the  Ganges."  Among 
the  ancient  peoples  who  spoke  this  language  he  classes 
"  the  Southern  Arabians,  the  early  Canaanites,  the  early 
Chaldeans,  and  the  Susianians,"  He  might  have  added, 


Cushite  Speech  found  in  Mahrah.  89 

what  is  now  well  known,  that  dialects  of  this  tongue  were 
spoken  in  Egypt,  and  throughout  Northern  and  Eastern 
Africa.  The  best  linguistic  scholars,  those  whose  judgment 
is  least  affected  by  fanciful  theorizing,  explicitly  reject  the 
"  Turanian"  speculation,  and  incline  to  the  belief  that  these 
Hamitic  or  Cushite  dialects  must  be  classed  by  themselves 
as  a  distinct  family. 

It  is  now  beyond  question  that  this  Cushite  tongue, 
found  in  the  Chaldean  ruins,  and  traced  throughout  West- 
ern Asia,  was  the  ancient  language  of  Arabia.  No  other 
language  was  spoken  in  the  country  until,  at  a  late  period, 
the  Ishmaelitish  Semites  went  there.  The  Himyaric  in- 
scriptions show  conclusively  that  tradition  and  the  Eastern 
historians  are  correct  in  saying  that  the  old  language  of 
Arabia  was  entirely  different  from  wrhat  is  known  as  Ara- 
bic. We  learn  from  Arabic  writers  that  dialects  of  the 
Himyaric  or  Cushite  tongue  were  spoken  in  Hadramaut, 
Mahrah,  and  some  other  parts  of  Eastern  and  Southern 
Arabia,  as  late  as  the  fourteenth  century.  They  are  still 
ppolcon  in  Mahrah,  an  extensive  region  in  Eastern  Arabia, 
including  the  district  where  Mirbat  and  Zhafar  are  situated, 
and  in  the  mountainous  districts  of  Cape  Mesandum ;  and 
the  Arabic  used  in  many  of  the  other  eastern  and  south- 
ern communities  is  so  filled  with  the  vocabulary  and  forms 
of  the  old  tongue  that  Semitic  Arabs  from  the  north  can- 
not understand  it.  Dr.  H.  J.  Carter,  in  the  Bombay  Jour- 
nal of  July,  1847,  said :  "The  Mahrah  dialect,  as  spoken  by 
the  Mahrahs  themselves,  is  the  softest  and  sweetest  lan- 
guage I  have  ever  heard."  El  Edrisi  called  this  language 
"  the  language  of  the  people  of  Ad,  which  is  ancient  and 
unknown  to  the  Arabians  of  our  day." 

It  was  formerly  a  saying  of  the  Semitic  Arabs  that "  who- 


90  Pre-IIistoric  Nations. 

ever  enters  Zhafar  Himyarizes,"  which  indicates  that  the 
old  language  maintained  itself  there  long  after  it  had  been 
superseded  in  most  of  the  other  districts.  In  the  Journal 
Asiatique  for  June,  1838,  Fresnel  stated  that  the  Himyaric 
language  then  spoken  at  Zhafar  and  Mirbat  was  some- 
what different  from  the  dialect  spoken  in  Mahrah,  adding 
that,  according  to  the  best  information  he  could  obtain,  the 
only  difference  was  that  "  the  Mahri  contained  a  larger 
proportion  of  Arabic  words."  Fresnel  (not  aware,  prob- 
ably, that  Wellsted  and  his  companions  had  found  Him- 
yaric inscriptions  somewhat  earlier)  claimed  to  be  the  dis- 
coverer of  the  Himyaric  language.  But  his  first  perception 
of  its  importance  was  not  very  clear,  for  he  announced  this 
discovery  to  his  scientific  friends  at  Paris  as  follows :  "  I 
have  discovered  the  language  spoken  at  the  court  of  the 
Queen  of  Sheba,  which  is  still  spoken  by  the  savages  of 
Mahrah !"  He  did  not  comprehend  Arabia,  and  perhaps 
his  chronology  would  not  allow  him  to  go  much  farther 
back  into  the  past.  Dr.  Forster,  in  the  appendix  to  his 
work  on  Arabian  geography,  glowed  over  the  Himyaric 
inscriptions  in  a  somewhat  different  way,  finding  in  them 
"  the  oldest  language  in  the  world,"  and  "  the  first  alpha- 
bet of  mankind." 

Neither  the  dialect  nor  the  alphabet  of  the  Himyaric  in- 
scriptions already  discovered  can  be  regarded  as  extreme- 
ly ancient  in  the  history  of  Cushite  development,  certainly 
not  as  ancient  as  the  cities  which  the  ruins  represent  We 
have  older  forms  of  both.  The  alphabet  carried  to  Greece, 
Italy,  and  Western  Europe  by  the  Phoenicians  belongs  to 
a  much  older  period,  as  we  can  see  in  the  number  and  form 
of  the  letters;  and  the  characters  of  some  inscriptions  and 
writings  found  in  Western  Asia  evidently  belong  to  an 


Age  of  Himyaric  Inscriptions.  91 

earlier  age.  The  dialect  of  the  Himyaric  inscriptions,  how- 
ever, is  ancient  and  difficult  to  decipher,  and  the  contents 
of  many  of  them  show  that  they  are  much  older  than  Chris- 
tianity, if  not  older  than  those  found  at  Sidon.  In  publish- 
ing the  Himyaric  inscriptions  preserved  in  the  British  Mu- 
seum, Mr.  Birch  notices  the  suggestion  of  M.  Caussin  de 
Perceval  that  they  may  belong  to  a  period  of  Arabian  his- 
tory beginning  not  earlier  than  100  years  before  Christ, 
and  adds  this  criticism :  "  As  the  later  kings  were  greatly 
inclined  to  Judaism,  it  is  possible  that  monuments  such  as 
these,  full  of  invocations  to  idols,  may  belong  to  earlier 
times  of  the  empire."  The  Himyaric  alphabet,  described 
as  the  Musned,  had  been  preserved  by  several  Arabic  writ- 
ers, and  was  easily  understood.  The  difficulty  in  translat- 
ing arises  chiefly  from  the  antiquity  of  the  dialect,  which, 
nevertheless,  is  much  later  than  that  of  the  Chaldean  in- 
scriptions. 

CONCERNING   THE    ORIGIN    OF   ALPHABETICAL   WRITING. 

It  is  found  necessary  to  admit  that  the  various  styles  of 
alphabetic  writing  used  by  the  nations  of  antiquity  were 
all  derived,  directly  or  remotely,  from  a  common  source, 
— from  a  single  form  of  writing,  originated  by  some  older 
people  in  the  course  of  their  own  development.  They  all 
belong  to  the  same  family,  just  as  genetically  related  di- 
alects and  forms  of  speech  constitute  one  family  group,  and 
furnish  demonstration  that  they  all  proceeded  from  a  single 
primeval  language.  According  to  the  Phoenicians,  the  art 
was  invented  by  Taautus,  or  Taut, "  whom  the  Egyptians 
call  Thouth ;"  and  the  Egyptians  said  it  was  invented  by 
Thouth,  or  Thoth,  otherwise  called  "  the  first  Hermes ;"  in 
which  we  see  clearly  that  both  Phoenicians  and  Egyptians 


92  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

• 

referred  the  invention  to  a  period  older  than  their  own 
separate  political  existence,  and  to  an  older  nation  from 
which  both  peoples  had  received  it. 

Sir  William  Drummond,  in  his  "  Origines,"  said  on  this 
point :  "  There  seems  to  be  no  way  of  accounting  either 
for  the  early  use  of  letters  among  so  many  different  na- 
tions, or  for  the  resemblance  which  existed  between  some 
of  the  graphic  symbols  employed  by  those  nations,  than  by 
supposing  hieroglyphic  writing,  if  I  may  be  allowed  the 
term,  to  have  been  in  use  among  the  Tsabaists  in  the  first 
ages  after  the  flood,  when  Tsabaism  (planet  worship)  was 
the  religion  of  almost  every  country  that  was  yet  inhabit- 
ed." Sir  Henry  Rawlinson,  directed  by  the  influence  of 
scientific  inquiry,  and  with  the  facts  before  him  in  a  clearer 
light,  says:  "So  great  is  the  analogy  between  the  first 
principles  of  the  science  (of  writing),  as  it  appears  to  have 
been  pursued  in  Chaldea,  and  as  we  can  actually  trace  its 
progress  in  Egypt,  that  we  can  hardly  hesitate  to  assign 
the  original  invention  to  a  period  before  the  Hamite  race 
had  broken  up  and  divided.  A  system  of  picture-writing, 
which  aimed  at  the  communication  of  ideas  through  the 
rude  representation  of  natural  objects,  belonged,  as  it  would 
seem,  not  only  to  the  tribes  who  descended  the  Nile  from 
Ethiopia,  but  to  those  also  who,  perhaps,  diverging  from 
the  same  focus,  passed  eastward  to  the  valley  of  the  Eu- 
phrates." (See  Rawlinson's  Herodotus,  vol.  i.,  p.  443.) 

It  seems  reasonable,  therefore,  to  infer  that  Taut  or 
Thoth  represents  the  origin  of  the  art  of  writing  among 
the  Hamitic  or  Cushite  people  in  the  earlier  ages  of  their 
existence,  when  they  still  dwelt  together  as  a  single  unit- 
ed people,  before  the  time  of  Egypt  and  Chaldea ;  but 
the  home  of  their  civilization,  from  which  their  colonies 


The  oldest  Forms  of  Writing.  93 

went  forth  east  #nd  west,  was  not  an  African  country,  as 
Sir  Henry  Rawlinson  appears  to  assume ;  it  must  have 
been  Arabia,  as  I  have  shown. 

Alphabetic  writing  would  naturally  have  its  earliest  de- 
velopment in  the  country  where  the  hieroglyphic  or  pic- 
ture style  originated ;  and,  this  country  being  Arabia,  the 
development  of  the  simpler  and  more  practical  alphabetic 
style  must  have  been  hastened  by  the  commercial  habits 
and  wants  of  the  people.  The  nation  that  became  mistress 
of  the  seas,  established  communication  with  every  shore, 
and  monopolized  the  commerce  of  the  known  world,  must 
have  substituted  a  simple  phonetic  alphabet  for  the  hiero- 
glyphics as  it  gradually  grew  to  this  eminence ;  while  iso- 
lated Egypt,  less  affected  by  the  practical  wants  and  ten- 
dencies  of  commercial  enterprise,  retained  the  hieroglyphic 
system,  and  carried  it  to  a  marvelous  height  of  perfection, 
deriving  from  it,  however,  two  simpler  forms  of  writing — 
first  the  hieratic,  and  at  length  the  demotic. 

The  ruins  of  Egypt  are  covered  with  hieroglyphics,  the 
perfected  Egyptian  style  appearing  on  the  oldest  monu- 
ments. That  this  form  of  writing  was  laid  aside  very  early 
by  other  branches  of  the  Cushite  or  Hamitic  race  is  evinced 
by  the  fact  that  the  only  fragments  of  it  found  in  remains 
of  other  peoples  of  this  race  appear  on  a  broken  tablet 
from  the  Mesopotamian  ruins,  now  in  the  British  Museum. 
Sir  Henry  Rawlinson  finds  in  the  writing  on  this  tablet 
"  several  of  the  primitive  forms  of  natural  objects  from 
which  the  cuneiform  characters  were  subsequently  elabo- 
rated." There  are  not  less  than  six  different  styles  of  the 
cuneiform  writing,  that  found  in  the  Chaldean  ruins  seem- 
ing to  be  the  oldest.  There  is  nothing  to  show  how  many 
forms  of  hieroglyphical  writing  came  into  use  before  this 


94  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

style  was  perfected  in  Upper  Egypt,  and^  superseded  else- 
where by  alphabets. 

The  oldest  Cushite  alphabet  known  to  us  is  that  which 
the  Phoenicians  carried  to  Southern  and  Western  Europe, 
which,  however,  was  not  preserved  without  modification. 
The  names  of  its  letters,  and  some  of  their  forms,  show  that 
it  was  derived  originally  from  hieroglyphics.  Aleph  means 
an  ox  ;  Bit,  Bith,  or  Beth,  a  house  or  temple  ;  and  Gamel 
or  Gimel,  a  camel,  an  animal  very  naturally  represented  in 
ancient  Arabian  hieroglyphics,  but  not  likely  to  appear  in 
a  hieroglyphical  system  originating  in  any  country  where 
the  camel  is  not  found. 

The  invention  of  this  alphabet,  from  which  all  the  alpha- 
bets of  modern  Europe  have  been  derived,  was  attributed 
to  the  Phoenicians.  Pliny  (lib.  v.,  ch.  xil)  ascribes  to  the 
Phoenicians  "  the  great  glory  of  inventing  letters" — "  ipsa 
gtns  Phcenicum  in  gloria  magna  literamm  inventionis." 
This  appears  to  have  been  commonly  said  among  Greeks 
and  Romans.  They  could  have  said,  more  correctly,  that 
letters  originated  in  the  country  of  which  anciently  Phoe- 
nicia was  one  of  the  more  important  districts.  And  so, 
when  Pliny  described  the  Phoenicians  as  "  the  first  discov- 
erers of  the  sciences  of  astronomy  and  navigation,"  he 
would  have  been  more  accurate  if,  instead  of  "  the  Phoeni- 
cians," he  had  said  the  ancient  Ethiopians  or  Cushites  of 
Arabia.  The  original  country  of  the  Cushite  race,  to  which 
the  Phoenicians  belonged — the  original  home  where  this 
culture  had  birth,  and  from  which  the  Cushite  colonies  and 
influence  went  forth  in  every  direction  to  spread  civiliza- 
tion, and  create  such  nations  as  Egypt  and  Chaldea,  was 
not  merely  the  little  district  of  Phoenicia — it  was  the  whole 
Arabian  peninsula. 


Arabian  Antiquity  Remote.  95 

AJfCIE^T  HISTOBY   OF    ARABIA. 

I  can  imagine  nothing  that  would  shed  so  great  a  light 
on  the  pre-historic  ages  as  an  accurate  history  of  Arabia 
from  the  beginning  of  its  civilization.  Histories  of  that 
country  were  undoubtedly  written  before  and  after  the 
time  when  Menes  united  Upper  and  Lower  Egypt  under 
one  government,  for  in  that  old  time,  so  far  away  from  us 
in  the  deepest  antiquity,  Arabia  was  the  foremost  country 
of  the  world.  The  people  that  originated  the  art  of  writing 
did  not  fail  to  have  writers  of  their  own  annals.  Never- 
theless, their  ancient  history  cannot  now  be  produced,  for 
not  only  their  own  literature  perished,  but  also  that  of  the 
next  succeeding  nations,  and,  for  more  than  twenty-five 
hundred  years,  no  other  country  with  which  our  civiliza- 
tion is  connected  has  been  so  completely  withdrawn  from 
the  observation  of  what  we  call  history.  It  has  been  a 
mystery,  an  unreal  country,  and  failure  to  see  its  historic 
importance  has  left  many  important  problems  of  Ancient 
History  without  proper  solution. 

And  yet  a  weird  influence  of  its  great  past  is  felt  when- 
ever inquiry  turns  to  its  ancient  history ;  and  now  and  then 
a  writer  wonders  that  "  a  nation  whose  history  ascends 
without  interruption  to  so  remote  an  origin,  and  whose 
name  has  been  so  celebrated,  should  have  its  political  in- 
fancy shrouded  in  so  thick  a  mist  of  doubt  and  oblivion." 
Even  from  this  writer  its  grandest  ages  are  hidden  under 
that  phrase  "  its  political  infancy."  These  ages  are  shroud- 
ed in  doubt  and  oblivion,  partly  because  they  are  so  re- 
mote. We  consider  Egypt  and  Chaldea  very  old,  but  the 
culture  and  political  organization  of  the  Arabian  Cushites 
were  much  older;  they  belong  to  what  both  Egyptians 


96  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

and  Chaldeans  regarded  as  antiquity.  Time,  that  wastes 
all  things  human,  and  buries  nations  out  of  sight,  has  not 
spared  the  primeval  history  of  this  oldest  of  civilized  peo- 
ples. Add  to  this  that  the  distance  from  us  in  time  of  the 
beginnings  of  the  Cushite  civilization  is  so  vast  as  to  fright- 
en the  current  chronologies  into  absolute  lunacy,  and  we 
shall  cease  to  wonder  that  the  early  history  of  Arabia  has 
been  so  buried  in  oblivion,  and  so  discredited  by  the  ehro- 
nologists  that  it  has  failed  to  command  much  attention,  or 
even  to  be  thought  of  as  a  reality. 

This  antiquity  of  civilization  in  Arabia  is  necessary  to 
explain  the  facts  that,  in  the  oldest  recorded  traditions, 
Arabia  is  the  land  of  Cush,  the  celebrated  Ethiopia  of  very 
remote  times,  and  that,  according  to  the  testimony  of  lin- 
guistic and  archaeological  science,  the  first  civilizers  in 
Western  and  Southwestern  Asia  and  in  the  Nile  Valley 
were  a  people  described  as  Cushitcs  or  Karaites.  These 
facts  are  incontestable ;  but,  while  it  is  necessary  to  accept 
what  they  signify,  we  have  no  chronology  for  the  scheme 
of  Arabian  history  which  they  suggest.  Guided,  however, 
by  what  we  know  of  the  antiquity  of  civilization  in  Egypt 
and  Chaldea,  we  may  suppose  as  probable  that  the  his- 
tory of  the  ancient  Cushite  civilization  was  somewhat  as 
follows : 

1.  There  was  the  primeval  period  of  first  development 
and  growth.  Did  the  original  culture  of  the  Cushite  civ- 
ilizers come  to  them  from  a  still  older  civilization  ?  or  was 
it  originated  entirely  by  themselves,  without  assistance 
or  stimulus  from  abroad?  We  cannot  answer  these  ques- 
tions. Man  was  created  capable  of  improvement,  and  no 
very  long  period  could  have  elapsed  before  the  use  of  ronson 
and  the  almost  spontaneous  activity  of  the  aptitude  for  in- 


Was  it  8000  Tears  B.C.?  97 

vention  in  providing  for  the  wants  of  life  began  to  create 
civilization.  This  development  would  necessarily  be  great- 
est and  swiftest  in  the  most  highly  gifted  families  and  un- 
der the  most  favorable  circumstances.  If  the  first  appear- 
ance of  the  human  race  on  earth  be  as  far  back  in  the 
past  as  it  seems  necessary  to  believe,  the  Cushite  civiliza- 
tion could  not  have  been  the  oldest  development  of  civil- 
ized life  in  human  history.  It  is,  however,  the  oldest  of 
which  we  have  any  trace.  It  may  have  been  original ;  and 
therefore  the  period  of  its  beginning,  and  its  growth  to  the 
condition  out  of  which  grew  its  eminence  in  commercial 
and  colonizing  enterprise,  may  have  been  very  long. 

2.  The  period  of  colonizing  enterprise,  commercial  great- 
ness, and  extensive  empire.     Early  in  this  period  Cushite 
colonies  were  established  in  the  valleys  of  the  Nile  and  of 
the  Euphrates,  which  in  subsequent  ages  became  Barbara, 
Egypt,  and  Chaldea.     Its  beginning  could  not  have  been 
later  than  7000  or  8000  years  before  Christ,  and  it  may 
have  begun  much  earlier.     The  Cushites  occupied  India, 
Western  Asia  to  the  Mediterranean,  and  extensive  regions 
in  Africa.    In  this  period  they  brought  to  full  development 
that  knowledge  of  astronomy  and  of  other  sciences,  frag- 
ments of  which  have  come  down  to  us  through  the  nations 
they  created  and  by  which  they  were  succeeded.    The  vast 
commercial  system  by  which  they  brought  together  "  the 
ends  of  the  earth"  was  created,  and  that  unrivaled  emi- 
nence in  maritime  and  manufacturing  skill  was  developed, 
which  the  Phoenicians  retained  down  to  the  time  of  the 
Hellenes  and  the  Romans.     In  this  period  were  the  grand- 
est ages  of  the  great  empire  of  Ethiopia,  or  Cusha-dwipa. 

3.  The  period  of  disintegration,  when  Egypt  and  Chal- 
dea became  separate  countries,  and  the  Sanskrit  branch  of 

E 


98  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

the  Aryan  race  invaded  and  occupied  Northern  India. 
This  period  may  have  begun  about  5000  years  before  the 
Christian  Era.  But  the  Arabian  Cushitcs,  having  control 
of  Arabia,  Southern  India,  many  colonies  on  the  Mediterra- 
nean, and  extensive  districts  in  Africa,  were  still  unrivaled 
in  power  and  commercial  dominion.  At  length  came  a 
time,  for  which  there  is  nothing  to  suggest  a  probable  date, 
when,  under  control  of  the  people  called  Phoenicians,  North- 
ern Arabia,  Syria,  and  the  connected  communities  on  the 
Mediterranean  became  a  separate  dominion.  There  is 
some  reason  for  supposing  (as  I  shall  presently  show)  that 
the  rest  of  the  peninsula  was  divided  into  two  kingdoms, 
not  later  than  from  about  3000  to  3500  B.C. — one  includ- 
ing Yemen,  Iladramaut,  the  Hedjaz,  and  other  western  dis- 
tricts ;  and  the  other  consisting  of  Oman,  the  districts  to- 
wards the  Persian  Gulf,  and  the  whole  region  known  as 
Irak  Arabi  to  the  Euphrates,  of  which  Zohak,  celebrated  in 
Iranian  history,  was  a  famous  ruler. 

4.  The  period  of  continued  decline,  which  finally  brought 
the  Arabian  peninsula  to  its  present  condition.  Much  of 
what  is  usually  written  as  "  the  History  of  Arabia  before 
Islamism"  belongs  to  this  period.  The  country  was  di- 
vided into  five  or  six  separate  kingdoms,  of  which  that  de- 
scribed by  the  Greeks  as  Saba  was  the  most  important. 
The  Phoenicians,  finally  restricted  in  Asia  to  the  little  dis- 
trict immediately  connected  with  their  great  cities,  and 
the  ricli  and  still  enterprising  people  of  Southern  Arabia, 
called  Sabeans  and  Himyarites,  continued  to  represent  what 
remained  of  the  old  Cushite  civilization  down  to  a  period 
comparatively  quite  modern.  But  the  ancient  glory  of  the 
country  departed  previous  to  the  rise  of  the  Assyrian  em- 
pire, in  the  thirteenth  century  before  Christ ;  and,  not  long 


The  Greeks  on  Arabia.  99 

before  the  beginning  of  the  Assyrian  period,  the  whole 
northern  portion  of  the  peninsula  was  invaded  and  over- 
run by  Semites,  chiefly  nomadic,  who  occupied  the  Hedjaz, 
became  permanent  inhabitants,  and  finally  originated  Ma- 
hometanism.  The  Land  of  Gush  was  transformed. 

In  the  absence  of  regular  historic  annals,  any  scheme  of 
Arabian  history  that  takes  in  all  its  periods  must  be  chiefly 
hypothetical.  Beyond  a  few  important  facts  that  may  be 
used  to  guide  supposition,  there  is  nothing  to  enlighten  us. 
We  learn  something  from  the  traditions  of  antiquity ;  the 
Hebrew  Scriptures  tell  us  something ;  the  old  ruins  of  the 
East  furnish  some  light ;  and  in  Mahometan  histories  of 
Arabia  there  are  passages  that  seem  to  present  a  few  con' 
fused  recollections  of  what  was  written  in  the  lost  annals 
of  the  country ;  but  a  regular  and  accurate  historical  ac- 
count of  ancient  Arabia  is  no  longer  possible.  If  the 
Greeks  had  studied  the  country  carefully,  and  written  its 
history  with  such  intelligence  as  the  libraries  of  Egypt  and 
Phrenicia  then  made  possible,  it  would  have  had  a  prom- 
inent place  in  our  studies  of  ancient  history.  But  to  them 
Arabia  was  already  very  obscure,  and  their  knowledge  of 
the  peninsula  was  nearly  as  vague  and  visionary  as  that 
which  has  prevailed  in  modern  times. 

GREEK   NOTICES    OF   ARABIA. 

Herodotus,  writing  more  than  twenty -three  centuries 
ago,  had  no  perception  of  the  historic  importance  of  Ara- 
bia. To  him  it  was  a  land  of  rare  and  marvelous  produc- 
tions, but  he  seems  to  have  had  no  knowledge  whatever 
of  the  great  commerce  with  India  and  other  countries  at 
the  East,  still  monopolized  by  the  Southern  Arabians.  He 
says :  "  Arabia  is  the  farthest  of  the  inhabited  countries 


100  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

towards  the  South ;  and  this  is  the  only  region  in  which 
grow  myrrh,  frankincense,  cinnamon,  and  ledanum.  All 
these,  except  myrrh,  the  Arabians  gather  with  difficulty." 
Then  follows  a  rehearsal  of  certain  cunning  stories,  worthy 
of  the  "  Thousand  and  One  Nights,"  put  in  circulation  by 
the  Arabians  to  hide  their  commerce  from  the  Western 
nations.  It  was  understood  that  all  spices  and  perfumes, 
and  most  other  rich  and  royal  products,  came  from  that 
country ;  and  Herodotus,  like  others  of  his  time,  supposed 
they  were  all  produced  there.  His  knowledge  and  appre- 
ciation of  the  country  seem  to  have  been  fully  expressed 
in  his  exclamation, "  There  breathes  from  Arabia  a  divine 
odor !" 

He  knew  no  more,  and  nowhere  else  in  the  Greek  litera- 
ture of  that  age,  or  of  any  subsequent  age,  do  we  find  a 
more  intelligent  account  of  Arabian  history,  geography,  or 
commerce.  Enough  was  known  of  the  country  to  create  a 
feeling  of  something  rich  and  strange,  something  uncom- 
prehended  and  mysterious,  and  Greek  wrriters  who  gained 
some  general  knowledge  of  Southern  Arabia  were  moved 
to  exhaust  the  power  of  language  in  attempts  to  describe 
its  riches.  There  may  have  been  something  more  in  the 
lost  geographical  work  of  Artemidorus  of  Ephesus,  al- 
though the  extract  in  Strabo  indicates  little  more  than  vis- 
ionary ignorance ;  but  nothing  beyond  this  has  been  pre- 
tiiTved.  Diodorus  Siculus,  after  an  extravagant  descrip- 
tion of"  the  perfumes  of  Arabia,  which  ravished  the  senses," 
and  "  were  conveyed  by  the  winds  to  those  who  sailed  near 
the  coast,"  proceeded  (bk.  iii.,  ch.  iii.)  as  follows: 

"  Having  never  been  conquered,  by  reason  of  the  large- 
ness of  their  country,  they  flow  in  streams  of  gold  and  sil- 
ver ;  and  likewise  their  beds,  chairs,  and  stools  have  their 


Vast  fiiches  of  the  Arabians.  101 

feet  of  silver ;  and  all  their  household  stuff  is  so  sumptu- 
ous and  magnificent  that  it  is  incredible.  The  porticoes 
of  their  houses  and  temples,  in  some  cases,  are  overlaid  with 
gold.  The  like  wonderful  cost  they  are  at  throughout 
their  whole  buildings,  adorning  them,  in  some  parts,  with 
silver  and  gold,  and  in  others  with  ivory,  precious  stones, 
and  other  things  of  great  value,  for  they  have  enjoyed  a 
constant  and  uninterrupted  peace  for  many  ages  and  gen- 
erations." 

Agatharchides  is  quoted  thus : 

"The  Sabeans  surpass  in  wealth  and  magnificence  not 
only  the  neighboring  barbarians,  but  all  other  nations  what- 
soever. As  their  distant  situation  protects  them  from  all 
foreign  plunders,  immense  stores  of  precious  metals  have 
been  accumulated  among  them,  especially  in  the  capital. 
Curiously-wrought  gold  and  silver  drinking  vessels  in  great 
variety ;  couches  and  tripods  with  silver  feet ;  an  incredi- 
ble profusion  of  costly  furniture  in  general ;  porticoes,  with 
large  columns  partly  gilt  and  capitals  ornamented  with 
wrought  silver  figures ;  roofs  and  doors  ornamented  with 
gold  fretwork  set  with  precious  stones ;  besides  an  extra- 
ordinary magnificence  reigning  in  the  decorations  of  their 
houses,  where  they  use  silver,  gold,  ivory,  and  the  most 
precious  stones,  and  all  other  things  that  men  deem  most 
valuable.  These  people  have  enjoyed  their  good  fortune 
from  the  earliest  times  undisturbed." 

These  descriptions  bring  out  one  important  fact.  The 
Greeks  believed  Arabia  had  been  a  seat  of  enlightened  civ- 
ilization and  of  a  great  commerce  "  from  the  earliest  times ;" 
and  yet,  so  far  as  we  know,  it  never  occurred  to  any  Greek 
scholar  to  study  the  history  of  this  land  of  marvelous 
wealth,  and  trace  "from  the  earliest  times"  the  develop- 


102  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

ment  of  its  civilization  and  commercial  enterprise.  The 
Greeks  of  the  Hellenic  period  knew  less  of  distant  coun- 
tries than  was  known  in  the  time  of  Homer.  Their  geo- 
graphical knowledge  was  confined  chiefly  to  the  regions 
around  the  ^gean  and  the  Eastern  Mediterranean.  The 
prevalent  ignorance  of  more  distant  regions  is  shown  by  a 
statement  of  that  insatiate  reader  and  collector  of  informa- 
tion, the  Elder  Pliny,  who  says  (lib.  vi.,  ch.  xxiv.) :  "  Tapro- 
bane  (Ceylon),  under  the  name  of  the  'land  of  the  Autoch- 
thones,' was  long  looked  upon  as  another  world ;  the  age 
and  arms  of  Alexander  the  Great  were  the  first  to  give 
satisfactory  proof  that  it  is  an  island."  Telling  what  he 
had  learned  concerning  the  Arabians,  he  says,  "Arabia  is  in- 
ferior to  no  country  throughout  the  whole  world."  Speak- 
ing of  the  "  Omani,"  or  people  of  Oman,  he  refers  to  "  their 
once  famous  cities,"  which  "  at  the  present  time  are  wil- 
dernesses." He  mentions  "  Homna  and  Attana,  which,  our 
merchants  say,  are  at  the  present  time  the  most  famous 
towns  on  the  Persian  Sea."  His  estimate  of  the  Arabians 
is  summed  up  as  follows :  "  Take  them  all  in  all,  they  are 
the  richest  nation  in  the  world." 

ARABIAN  RECOLLECTIONS   OF  THE   PAST. 

Mahometan  writers  on  the  history  of  Arabia  give  us  a 
few  vague  recollections  of  the  ancient  condition  of  the 
country ;  but  the  old  Cushite  literature,  locked  up  in  a 
strange  tongue,  and  fiercely  cursed  by  their  religion,  had 
all  disappeared  long  before  they  began  to  study  the  sub- 
ject. Moreover,  their  first  writings  on  the  history  of  Ara- 
bia were  several  centuries  later  than  the  time  of  Mahomet. 
The  Arabian  Semites  were  probably  the  rudest  and  least 
civilized  inhabitants  of  the  peninsula.  Most  of  them  were 


Mahometan  Histories  of  Arabia.  103 

nomads,  although  they  had  some  settled  communities,  and 
some  knowledge  of  reading  and  writing.  The  first  Ma- 
hometans were  not  a  literary  people,  and  no  attempt  was 
made  to  write  even  the  life  of  their  prophet  until  more 
than  a  century  after  his  death,  towards  the  close  of  the 
Ommiade  dynasty  of  caliphs.  The  culture  for  which  the 
caliphate  was  celebrated  did  not  come  from  Koreish  Arabs, 
nor  did  it  greatly  affect  them,  but  it  affected  the  Arabic 
language ;  and  the  literary  activity  it  created  produced 
not  only  poetry,  philosophy,  and  science,  but  also  biogra- 
phies of  Mahomet  and  histories  of  Arabia.  Among  those 
who  wrote  on  Arabian  history  and  geography  w7ith  most 
care  and  ability  were  Al  Tabiri  of  Tabreez,  who  wrote  in 
the  10th  century  of  the  Christian  Era;  El  Mas'udi,  who  died 
about  957  A.D. ;  Nuwayri,  surnamed  Al  Kendi,  who  died 
about  1340  A.D. ;  Abulfeda,  prince  of  Hamah,  in  Syria, 
who  died  in  1345  A.D. ;  Hamza  of  Ispahan,  who  died  about 
968  A.D. ;  and  El  Edrisi,  who  was  born  about  1099  A.D. 

The  time  of  Mahomet  was  becoming  ancient  when  these 
men  wrote.  They  had  no  materials  for  a  regular  and  in- 
telligent history  of  even  the  later  periods  of  the  coun- 
try, and,  if  they  had  been  supplied  with  such  materials 
in  abundance,  the  overwhelming  influence  of  Mahometan 
prejudice  and  assumption  would  have  made  a  proper  use 
of  them  impossible.  Mahometanism,  treating  everything 
Arabian  but  itself  as  antichrist  if  it  could  not  be  made 
tributary  to  the  Prophet  and  his  race,  was  incapable  of 
being  a  faithful  historian  of  the  old  Cushite  civilization. 
Nevertheless,  Mahometan  writers  give  us  traditions  and 
facts,  in  which  successive  periods  of  the  ancient  history  of 
Arabia  are  clearly  indicated.  They  all  agree  that  Kahtan, 
celebrated  in  the  most  authentic  traditions,  represents  a 


104:  Pre-IIistoric  Nations. 

great  epoch,  which  was  preceded  by  the  misty  ages  of  Ad 
and  other  representative  persons  or  names,  and  followed  by 
historical  periods  beginning  with  great  political  changes, 
represented  by  Saba  and  Himyar.  The  Mahometans,  by 
substituting  the  Semitic  Joktan  for  Kahtan,  and  by  at- 
tempting to  reconstruct  all  Arabian  history  around  the 
Himyarite  kings,  have  entangled  the  subject  in  great  con- 
fusion. This  was  quite  sufficient ;  but  the  rabbinical  spirit 
and  chronological  dogmatism  of  modern  times  have  gone 
farther,  and  made  this  confusion  a  hopeless  jungle  of  ab- 
surdities. To  see  anything  clearly,  we  must  put  aside  these 
perverting  interpretations,  and  consider  the  traditions  and 
facts  for  ourselves  without  regard  to  what  has  been  said 
of  them  by  Mahometan  egotism,  rabbinical  ignorance,  or 
false  chronology. 

1.  The  traditions  quoted  as  authentic  by  all  Mahometan 
w  riters  on  Arabia  describe  a  period  of  civilization  before 
the  time  of  Kahtan.  To  this  period  are  assigned  Ad,  Tha- 
moud,  and  the  representative  names  of  persons  and  peoples 
associated  with  them.  Arabian  tradition  knows  nothing 
older  than  Ad.  It  associates  with  him  and  with  his  time 
the  beginnings  of  civilized  life.  It  represents  the  Adites, 
Thamoudites,  and  their  contemporaries  as  enterprising,  rich, 
and  powerful,  says  they  had  great  cities  and  wonderful 
magnificence,  and  declares  that  they  finally  disappeare.l 
from  the  earth  under  the  curse  of  heaven  on  their  pride 
and  arrogant  idolatry.  Mahometan  ardor  tells  romantic 
stories  of  their  marvelous  cities,  and  of  the  miraculous 
judgments  by  which  they  were  blasted.  This  traditional 
lore  evidently  preserves  faint  and  confused  recollections 
of  a  great  period  of  civilization  that  had  decaying  monu- 
ments, ruined  cities,  and  mysterious  antiquities  before  the 


Kalitan  in  Arabian  History.  105 

time  of  Kalitan.  Its  wondrous  creations  and  grand  politi- 
cal supremacy  disappeared,  not  in  fiery  storms  of  wrath 
from  heaven,  but  under  the  influence  of  time  and  change. 

2.  In  Arabian  tradition  Kahtan  occupies  a  position  simi- 
lar in  some  respects  to  that  of  Kaiamors  in  Iranian  history. 
It  is  pointed  out  that  there  were  ages  of  civilization  before 
his  time,  and  yet  he  is  described  as  the  ancestor  of  nearly 
the  whole  Arabian  people.  According  to  the  traditions  as 
reconstructed  by  Mahometanism,  his  descendants  repeo- 
pled  the  country  with  the  race  known  as  the  Aribah,  or 
Arabians  of  pure  blood,  and  he  is  celebrated  as  the  primal 
personage  of  the  Arabian  world.  Laying  aside  the  Mahom- 
etan fables,  we  may  suppose,  not  unreasonably,  that  Kah- 
tan represents  the  time  when  the  old  Cushite  communities 
in  Southern,  Eastern,  and  Central  Arabia  were  politically 
separated  from  those  at  the  north.  That  must  have  been 
a  very  important  epoch  in  Arabian  history.  Egypt  and 
Chaldea  had  already  become  separate  empires ;  the  Aryans 
had  entered  Northern  India ;  other  important  changes  had 
occurred;  and  now  what  remained  of  the  old  Cushite  em- 
pire was  divided,  by  a  line  running  through  Arabia  itself, 
into  two  separate  dominions — one  at  the  north,  under  Phoe- 
nician supremacy,  the  other  at  the  south  and  east5  reorgan- 
ized, we  suppose,  by  Kahtan.  Whether  Kahtan  actiially 
represents  the  beginning  of  this  new  era  must,  however, 
be  left  to  conjecture ;  an  accurate  history  of  that  time 
might  give  the  historical  significance  of  this  personage  a 
different  explanation.  He  belongs  to  a  remote  age,  and 
could  not  have  been  later  than  the  time  when  Martu  or 
Marathus,  mentioned  in  the  earlier  Chaldean  inscriptions, 
was  the  ruling  city  at  the  north.* 

*  Among  the  notes  which  El  Mas'udi  added  to  his  "Meadows  of  Gold 
E  2 


106  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

3.  In  the  traditions,  Saba,  described  as  a  descendant  of 
Kahtan,  is  the  next  personage  who  represents  an  important 
historical  epoch.    The  legends  connect  him  with  the  south- 
westtrn  quarter  of  the  peninsula,  and  with  a  kingdom  that 
seems  to  have  included  Yemen,  Hadramaut,  the  Hedjaz, 
and  other  districts.     That  very  ancient  Cushite  temple — 
the  oldest  temple  in  existence — known  as  the  Caaba  was 
situated  in  the  Hedjaz,  and  for  this  reason,  it  may  be,  the 
traditions  say  much  more  of  this  kingdom  than  of  any 
other  part  of  Arabia.     Saba  may  represent  the  time  when 
the  provinces  included  in  the  kingdom  of  Saba  and  the 
Himyarites  were  separated  from  those  in  the  opposite  quar- 
ter, including  Oman  and  the  districts  on  the  Persian  Gulf. 
It  is  known  that  such  a  division  existed  long  before  the 
Christian  Era,  and  that  the  southwestern  kingdom,  less  af- 
fected by  the  great  changes  in  Western  Asia,  and  more 
largely  devoted  to  commerce  and  maritime  enterprise,  pre- 
served its  existence  much  longer  than  the  other.     Saba 
was  probably  the  first  sovereign  of  this  monarchy  after 
the  separation.     Nuwayri  makes  him  its  founder  and  first 
ruler ;  and  Djennabi,  who  wrote  in  the  sixteenth  century 
of  the  Christian  Era,  gives  it  a  duration  of  three  thousand 
years. 

4.  Himyar,  a  descendant  of  Saba,  is  another  royal  per- 
sonage to  whom  special  but  unexplained  historical  impor- 
tance is  attached.     He  begins  the  line  of  Himyarite  kings, 

and  Mines  of  Gems"  is 'the  following:  "There  are  two  famous  places  on 
earth,  the  Iwan  (of  the  Kosrous  at  Ctesiphon),  and  the  Ghomdan  (of  the 
kings  of  Yemen)  at  Sana ;  and  there  are  only  two  great  royal  families,  the 
Sassanians  and  the  Khatanites."  We  have  not  heen  accustomed  to  see  in 
Arabia  one  of  the  greatest  and  most  ancient  royal  families.  It  was  differ- 
ent in  El  Mas'udi's  time. 


Harith,  JSeUcis,  and  Chronology.  107 

and  his  name  has  been  given  to  both  the  people  and  lan- 
guage of  the  country.  Nuwayri  places  the  beginning  of 
his  reign  in  the  year  1430  B.C.,  and  says  there  were  six- 
teen sovereigns  between  him  and  Queen  Belkis,  whose 
reign  began  in  the  year  991  B.C.  This  makes  Belkis  con- 
temporary with  Solomon.  According  to  Hamza  of  Ispa- 
han, the  Himyarite  monarchy  was  divided  "  during  fifteen 
generations,"  at  a  very  indefinitely  dated  period  after  the 
time  of  Himyar.  This  division  was  the  result  of  a  feud 
between  the  descendants  of  Himyar  and  those  of  his  broth- 
er Kahlan.  During  the  time  of  this  division,  one  family 
reigned  at  Saba,  while  the  other  reigned  at  Zhafar.  Other 
writers  mention  this  fact.  The  kingdom  was  finally  re- 
united under  Harith-el-Raisch.  He  was  called  Tobba,  as 
the  Egyptian  kings  were  called  Pharaohs,  "  because,"  it  is 
said,  "  the  united  people  followed  (tabbahou)  his  laws ;" 
and  all  his  successors  bore  this  title.  This  explanation  of 
the  title,  however,  may  not  be  correct ;  it  is  not  shown 
that  it  was  not  in  use  before  the  separation.  The  rule  of 
the  Himyarite  kings  was  terminated  nearly  a  century  and 
a  half  before  the  time  of  Mahomet  by  an  invasion  from 
Abyssinia. 

The  varying  and  contradictory  dynastic  lists  of  kings 
after  the  time  of  Saba,  constructed  by  Mahometan  writers, 
would  be  masterpieces  of  confusion  and  absurdity  if  they 
were  not  outdone  by  the  insane  chronology,  and  worse  than 
Mahometan  assumption,  of  those  learned  Orientalists  who 
place  Himyar  only  381  years  before  Christ,  and  bring  Bel- 
kis into  the  first  century  after  Christ.  It  seems  necessary 
to  remind  these  astonishing  chronologists  that  the  Hebrew 
Scriptures  make  it  certain  that  a  "  queen  of  Sheba"  ruled 
this  kingdom  in  the  time  of  Solomon.  This  must  be  ac- 


108  Pre-H'istoric  Nations. 

cepted  as  an  established  fact ;  but,  while  the  dates  of  the 
Mahometan  historians  are  more  credible  and  respectable 
than  those  of  some  modern  scholars,  who  have  applk'd  a 
false  chronology  to  the  history  of  Arabia,  it  is  necessary  to 
admit  that  neither  their  dates  nor  their,  dynastic  lists  can 
be  trusted.  Their  dates  lack  the  evidence  that  would  make 
them  authentic,  and  their  lists  of  Sabean  and  Himyarite 
kings  include  sovereigns  who  evidently  belong  to  ages 
more  ancient,  while  in  other  respects  they  are  confused,  ar- 
bitrary, and  unwarranted.  Nevertheless,  among  the  mate- 
rials collected  by  these  writers  there  are  royal  names  and 
brief  historical  fragments  that  engage  attention, 

FRAGMENTS    OF   OLD   ARABIAN   HISTORY. 

An  ancient  Arabian  sovereign,  usually  called  Zohak,  is 
mentioned  in  the  traditions  as  an  enterprising  and  power- 
ful conqueror.  He  is  sometimes  connected  with  the  most 
ancient  people  of  the  country,  but  there  is  nothing  in  Ara- 
bic literature  to  make  certain  the  time  of  his  reign.  It  is 
stated  in  the  chronicle  of  Tabiri  that  "  Zohak  was  in  pos- 
session of  the  whole  of  Irak  Arabi,  with  Tabristan,  Khezlan, 
Gurgan  or  Jurgan,  and,  in  short,  of  all  the  territory  in  this 
direction  to  the  very  borders  of  Hindustan,  which  he  (and 
his  successors)  governed  with  paramount  sway  during  a 
period  of  260  years."  The  Iranian  historians  give  a  more 
particular  account  of  Zohak.  According  to  some  of  them, 
he  was  the  son  of  an  Arabian  king  named  Mirtas.  Others 
add  that  his  mother  was  a  sister  of  Jemshid.  All  agree 
that  he  was  an  Arabian.  It  is  stated  that  he  dethroned 
Jemshid,  and  made  himself  master  of  the  kingdom  of  Iran 

*  O 

or  Hiras ;  that  "  he  slew  and  partook  of  all  animals  indif- 
ferently, whether  destructive  or  harmless"  (which  was  in 


Iranian  History  on  Zohak.  109 

violation  of  the  religious  code  of  Iran),  "  so  that  the  detesta- 
ble practice  became  general ;"  and  that,  long  afterwards, 
"  when  Feridun  had  purged  the  land  of  Zohak's  tyranny," 
the  "  detestable  practice"  could  not  be  entirely  overcome. 

In  the  Iranian  books  Zohak  is  described  as  Deh-ak  and 
Dizakh,  "  the  Tasi,"  usually  translated  "  the  Arabian."  A 
note  in  the  Desatir  says,  "  Taz  is  the  supposed  father  of 
the  Tasis  (or  Arabians)."  The  word  Taz  reminds  us  of  the 
original  Arabian  tribe  of  Tasm.  Zohak  probably  claimed 
descent  from  Tasm.  The  commentary  on  the  Desatir  tells 
us  that  "  Zohak  was  of  the  race  of  Taz,"  and  that  "  he  paid 
assiduous  worship  to  Yezdam  (the  Supreme  Being)  and  to 
the  stars,  on  which  account  Yezdam  granted  him  his  wishes ; 
but,  during  his  reign,  he  annoyed  harmless  animals."  He 
is  also  charged  with  grave  crimes.  Much  of  the  accusing 
execration  bestowed  upon  Zohak  is  probably  due  to  the 
fact  that  his  religion  was  that  of  the  Arabians,  and  not  that 
of  the  Iranians  or  Hirasis. 

According  to  Berosus,  a  foreign  dynasty  of  kings,  called 
"Median,"  ruled  Chaldea  during  224  years.  This  dynasty 
was  probably  the  result  of  a  conquest  of  the  country  by 
Zohak.  The  term  "  Median"  has  occasioned  much  doubt- 
ful speculation ;  some  supposing  it  to  mean  Turanians  or 
Magians,  and  others,  in  despair,  suggesting  a  corruption  of 
the  word  actually  used  by  Berosus.  But  Madian  or  Midian 
was  the  name  of  an  important  branch  of  the  Arabian  peo- 
ple; and  in  Irak  Arabi  there  was  a  district  and  a  great 
city  called  Madain.  Sadik  Isfahan!  said  in  his  geography, 
"  Madain  was  a  celebrated  city  of  Irak  Arabi.  It  was  call- 
ed Madain  because  it  was  the  largest  of  the  seven  Madain, 
or  cities  of  Irak."  Wherein  is  it  unreasonable  to  suppose 
that  Zohak,  having  conquered  Chaldea,  selected  from  his 


110  P re-Historic  Nations. 

immediate  followers  a  Madian  prince  to  be  its  ruler?  Or 
that  he  annexed  it  to  the  Madain  territory  of  the  prince  or 
king  who  ruled  under  him  in  Irak  Arabi,  with  which  Chal- 
d(  a  was  immediately  connected?  I  shall  show,  in  anothor 
place,  that  the  "  Median"  dynasty  of  Berosus  could  not  have 
begun  in  Chaldea  much  later  than  about  3000  years  before 
Christ ;  and  an  average  of  the  varying  statements  of  Irani- 
an writers  gives  this  as  very  nearly  the  date  of  Jemshid 
and  Zohak. 

An  Arabian  sovereign  called  Schamar-Iarasch,  nnd  also 
Schamar-Iarasch-Abou-Karib,  is  described  by  Ilamza,  Nu- 
wayri,  and  others,  as  a  powerful  ruler  and  conqueror,  who 
carried  his  arms  successfully  far  into  Central  Asia.  It  is 
said  that  he  became  master  of  all  the  countries  in  that  di- 
rection, occupied  Samarcand  for  a  long  time,  and  even  in- 
vaded China.  In  proof  of  the  conquests  of  this  sovereign, 
Il-imza  states  that  an  edifice  formerly  existed  at  Samar- 
cand bearing  this  inscription  in  the  Himyarite  or  Cushite 
language  and  characters :  "  In  the  name  of  God,  Schamar- 
Iarasch  has  erected  this  edifice  to  the  sun,  his  Lord."  And 
Abulfeda  says  in  his  Geography,  "  Ibn-Hankal  states  that 
he  saw  on  one  of  the  gates  of  Samarcand,  called  JCesch,  an 
iron  plate  bearing  an  inscription  said  by  the  inhabitants  to 
be  Himyaric  ;  and  they  told  him  that  the  gate  was  built  by 
the  king  or  Tobba  of  Arabia."  Ibn-Hankal  added  that  this 
gate  was  destroyed  during  a  sedition  that  arose  while  he 
was  there.  Langles  states  in  a  note  on  Norden's  "  Travels" 
that  such  inscriptions  still  existed  at  Samarcand  in  the  four- 
teenth century ;  and  Humboldt,  referring  to  these  facts,  is 
sure  that  "  some  connection  existed  between  ancient  Ethio- 
pia and  the  elevated  plain  of  Central  Asia." 

At  what  time  in  the  past  did  these  extensive  Arabian 


Ancient  Arabian  Conquerors.  Ill 

conquests  take  place  ?  Not  during  the  time  of  either  the 
Assyrian  empire,  or  of  the  Persian  empire  established  by 
Cyrus  the  Great,  and,  certainly,  not  at  any  later  period. 
It  was  previous  to  the  period  of  the  Assyrian  empire,  which, 
according  to  the  best  estimates,  began  in  the  year  1273  be- 
fore Christ.  The  History  of  Berosus  informs  us  that,  during 
the  245  years  previous  to  the  rise  of  Assyria  to  imperial 
power,  Chaldea  was  governed  by  an  Arabian  dynasty  of 
nine  kings.  The  time  of  these  Arabian  kings  extended 
from  1518  to  1273  B.C.,  and  this  is  the  latest  period  to 
which  the  conquests  of  Schamar-Iarasch  can  be  assigned. 
He,  or  some  other  Arabian  monarch,  conquered  Chaldea  at 
the  beginning  of  this  period.  "We  may,  therefore,  reasona- 
bly suppose  that  the  occupation  of  Central  Asia,  and  the 
invasion  of  China  by  Arabians,  was  connected  with  this 
conquest. 

There  is  mention  of  Arabian  monarchs  who  marched  fur 
into  Africa  and  waged  war  with  "  Maghrib ;"  and  one  of 
them,  called  Afrikis  or  Afrikin,  is  said  to  have  marched  his 
army  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  Maghrib  is  an  ancient  name 
of  Mauritania,  which  is  sometimes  called  Maghrib-ul-Aksa. 
The  old  Arabian  Cushites,  hi  the  great  days  of  their  empire, 
occupied  or  controlled  the  larger  part  of  Africa,  as  I  shall 
endeavor  to  show  in  another  place.  Doubtless  their  estab- 
lishments in  Central  Africa  were  retained  down  to  the  first 
period  of  the  Himyaric  kings.  Under  these  circumstances, 
wars  with  Maghrib  were  not  unlikely ;  and  a  march  through 
Africa  by  a  monarch  occupying  its  central  countries  could 
not  have  been  a  very  difficult  affair.  Harith-el-Raisch,  by 
whom,  it  is  said,  the  divided  kingdom  of  Hadramaut  and 
Yemen  was  reunited,  is  celebrated  as  a  sovereign  of  re- 
markable genius  and  character.  He  made  the  reunion 


112  Pre-Ifistoric  Nations. 

complete  and  permanent,  greatly  enlarged  the  power  of  the 
kingdom,  and  extended  his  conquests  to  India. 

None  of  these  historical  fragments  and  traditions,  how- 
ever, refer  to  the  earlier  periods  of  Arabian  civilization  and 
greatness ;  none  of  them  reach  back  to  the  ages  previous  to 
the  epoch  when  the  northern  provinces  and  colonial  pos- 
sessions of  Arabia  were  politically  separated  from  the  rest 
of  the  peninsula ;  but  they  show  distinctly  that  the  coun- 
try was  very  great  and  very  powerful,  even  in  its  periods 
of  disintegration  and  decline.  The  Greek  and  Sanskrit  tra- 
ditions and  mythological  narratives  relate  to  more  ancient 
times,  and  give  us  the  names  of  some  of  the  earlier  rulers  of 
the  Land  of  Cush,  such  as  Dionysos,  Kepheus,  and  others. 
It  is  unreasonable  not  to  see  what  is  signified  by  the  tradi- 
tions concerning  Dionysos.  He  was  one  of  the  greatest  and 
most  influential  sovereigns  the  world  has  ever  known,  if  we 
may  judge  by  that  ineffaceable  impression  of  his  greatness 
left  behind  him  in  Egypt,  India,  and  throughout  Western 
Asia.  In  Egypt  he  was  deified  as  Osiris,  and  I  shall  speak 
of  him  more  at  length  in  what  I  have  to  say  of  the  Cushite 
origin  and  civilization  of  that  country. 

THE   CUSHITE   SYSTEM   OF   POLITICAL   ORGANIZATION. 

The  ancient  Arabians  had  a  peculiar  system  of  political 
organization,  which  went  with  them  to  every  land  they  col- 
onized. The  traces,  remains,  and,  sometimes,  nearly  perfect 
forms  of  it  still  remaining  in  countries  where  their  influence 
was  most  powerful  and  permanent,  should  be  classed  with 
the  characteristic  and  suggestive  antiquities  of  that  legen- 
dary race.  "We  see  the  Phoenicians  come  into  history  with 
a  political  system  radically  different  from  that  of  any  other 
people  of  antiquity,  excepting  those  peoples  on  the  Meditcr- 


Oman  and  its  Municipalities.  113 

ranean  who  were  originally  formed  by  their  influence.  Their 
cities,  with  connected  districts,  were  separate  municipalities, 
completely  organized,  and  controlled  more  or  less  by  popu- 
lar influence.  They  established  the  same  system  in  Greece, 
and  along  the  coast  of  Asia  Minor,  long  before  either  Greeks 
or  Pelasgians  were  mentioned  in  those  regions.  They  car- 
ried it  to  Italy  and  Northern  Africa.  It  prevailed  ancient- 
ly in  Arabia  from  Phoenicia  to  the  Indian  Ocean,  and  it  ex- 
ists there  still.  We  see  it  in  Mr.  Palgrave's  account  of  the 
political  organization  of  the  kingdom  of  Oman.  He  says : 

"  Oman  is  less  a  kingdom  than  an  aggregation  of  muni- 
cipalities ;  each  town,  each  village,  has  its  separate  existence 
and  corporation ;  while  towns  and  villages,  in  their  turn, 
are  subjected  to  one  or  another  of  the  ancestral  chiefs,  who 
rule  the  provinces  with  an  authority  limited,  on  one  side, 
by  the  traditional  immunities  of  their  vassals,  and,  on  the 
other,  by  the  prerogatives  of  the  crown.  These  preroga- 
tives [of  the  crown]  consist  of  the  right  to  nominate,  and  (on 
complaint)  to  depose  local  governors,  although  the  office  re- 
mr.:ns  always  in  the  same  family;  to  fix  and  levy  port  and 
custom-house  dues ;  to  have  exclusive  management  of  the 
navy ;  to  keep  a  small  standing  army  of  six  or  seven  hun- 
dred men;  and  to  transact  all  foreign  affairs,  for  alliance  or 
treaty,  peace  or  war.  The  administration  of  justice  and  the 
decision  of  criminal  cases  are  reserved  to  the  kadis  and  the 
local  royal  judges.  In  short,  the  whole  course  of  law  is 
considered  to  be  entirely  independent  of  the  sovereign,  ex- 
cept in  very  extraordinary  circumstances.  Again,  the  taxes 
levied  on  land  or  goods  (sea-port  commerce  excepted)  are 
fixed  and  immutable  save  by  local  or  municipal  authority ; 
the  sultan  enjoys,  but  can  not  change  them." 

Here  we  have  the  remains  of  that  ancient  political  system 


114  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

of  the  Arabian  Cushites  which  regulated  the  organization  of 
the  Phoenician  communities,  created  similar  communities  in 
Asia  Minor  and  around  the  ^Egean  Sea,  and  thus  determined 
the  conditions  that,  in  later  times,  brought  into  existence 
the  Ionian  confederacy,  and  the  "  fierce  democracies"  of  the 
Grecian  peninsula.  Some  of  the  best  preserved  forms  of 
this  system  are  found  among  the  African  Berbers,  such  as 
the  McZabs  and  the  Touaricks ;  but  remains  or  traces  of  it 
appear,  with  other  antiquities  of  that  old  race,  in  India,  as 
well  as  in  Africa,  and  even  in  Western  Europe.  The  local 
municipalities,  or  "village  republics,"  as  they  have  been 
called,  still  existing  in  India,  were  noticed  by  Arrian,  and 
they  are  described  in  English  accounts  of  the  country ;  but 
I  shall  speak  of  them  more  particularly  in  another  place. 
The  "  free  cities"  of  the  Middle  Ages  of  Europe,  which  were 
recognised  but  not  created  by  the  governments  of  the  new- 
ly-organized nations,  must  have  had  their  origin  in  this  old 
system,  especially  those  of  France  and  Spain.*  They  were 
organized  municipalities  long  before  Spain  and  France  ex- 
isted, as  we  know  them.  The  same  system  has  been  uni- 
versal among  the  Basques  from  time  immemorial ;  and  their 
right  to  live  under  their  own  laws,  and  manage  their  own 
affairs  without  dictation,  was  not  interfered  with  untij,  un- 
der the  late  sovereign  of  Spain,  Queen  Isabella,  their  muni- 
cipal prerogatives  were  suppressed  because  they  took  the 
side  of  Don  Carlos  in  the  civil  war. 

Could  we  have  a  complete  and  authentic  history  of  the 

*  The  maritime  towns  of  the  south  of  France  entered  into  separate  al- 
liances with  foreign  states,  as  Narbonne  with  Genoa  in  11GG,  and  Mont- 
pellier  in  the  next  century.  At  the  death  of  Raymon  VII. ,  Avignon, 
Aries,  and  Marseilles  affected  to  set  up  republican  governments,  but  were 
soon  brought  into  subjection. — Hallmns  Middle  Ages,  vol.  L,  p.  206. 


Remains  of  the  Cushite  System.  115 

various  municipalities  of  Phoenicia  from  the  time  of  Martu 
to  the  beginning  of  the  Carthaginian  period,  the  actual 
character  of  this  old  Cushite  system  might  be  seen  more 
clearly.  Probably  it  was  not  very  democratic.  Very  like- 
ly there  were  "  principal  classes"  who  controlled  the  com- 
monwealths. There  may  have  been  a  more  or  less  exclu- 
sive system  of  citizenship.  At  the  head  of  each  munici- 
pality there  appears  to  have  been  a  hereditary  local  prince 
or  chief.  Among  the  Phoenicians,  as  we  see  them  in  his- 
tory, the  general  organization  seems  to  have  been  a  loose 
fraternal  confederacy,  much  looser  probably  than  circum- 
stances made  possible  under  the  great  kings  of  ancient  Ara- 
bia, much  farther  removed  from  consolidation  than  the  pres- 
ent governments  of  the  Arabian  peninsula.  But  a  people 
so  active  and  enterprising,  and  so  largely  devoted  to  manu- 
factures, commerce,  and  maritime  undertakings,  would  nat- 
urally demand  and  secure  a  political  system  based  on  mu- 
nicipal organizations  that  would  allow  them  to  manage 
their  own  aifairs. 

The  traditions  of  the  Cushite  race  in  Arabia  indicate 
that  they  had  this  system  from  the  beginning.  Their  tra- 
ditionary myths  and  legends,  unlike  those  of  most  ancient 
peoples,  do  not  describe  a  national  beginning — when  they 
Avere  formed  and  organized  by  a  great  sovereign  who 
taught  them  civilization,  overwhelmed  their  enemies,  and 
gave  them  national  existence.  On  the  contrary,  they  tell 
us  that  this  Cushite  nation  first  appeared  in  Arabia  in  nine 
or  more  tribes  or  communities,  separately  organized,  and 
governed  by  chiefs  whose  names  are  given.  At  the  head 
of  these  chiefs  or  princes  was  Ad,  who  appears  to  be  rec- 
ognised as  the  first  ruler  of  the  nation.  The  significance 

o  o 

of  these  traditions  is  unequivocal.     They  show  us  that,  in 


116  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

the  earliest  times,  the  Cushite  system  made  the  nation  con- 
sist of  an  "  aggregation  of  municipalities."  There  is  no 
recollection  of  any  other  system,  and  we  find  no  other  that 
can  be  traced  to  this  race  in  any  part  of  the  world  where 
their  colonies  and  their  influence  were  established. 

CUSHITE    SCIENCE,  ASTRONOMICAL   AND   NAUTICAL. 

There  is  a  passage  in  Aristotle's  De  Coelo,  lib.  ii.,  cap.  xii., 
frequently  cited  or  mentioned,  which  reads  as  follows : 
ri]v  £E  af\i]vr]v  ivpciKafitv  CI^VTO^OV  pev  ovtrav'  vtrtiat\Qov(jav  £e 
T£JV  aarrtpwv  TOV  Tou  "  Aptog,  Kal  ('nroKpvQivra.  /i*V  TO  fJiiXav  avrf/c, 
QtXQuvra  %e  Kara  TO  <f>av6v  Kal  Xa^nrpoy'  vfioluiG  2e  »;at  Trtpl  rote 
aXXote  dorepae  \tyovfftv  ol  TraXat  TerrjpijKOTfQ  IK  TrXtitrruv  trwv 
AtyvTTTiot  Kal  BapvXwvtot,  Trap*  wv  TroXXac  Tr/orttc  t\ofitv  irfpl  IKU- 

errov  TUIV  atrrptuv '  which  may  be  translated,  We  have  seen 
the  moon,  one  half  bright  and  the  other  darJc^pass  between 
us  and  the  planet  Mars,  which  disappeared  under  the  dark 
side  and  came  out  from  behind  the  shining  part.  Similar 
observations  of  other  stars  are  described  by  the  Egyptians 
and  Babylonians,  who  anciently,  and  for  many  ages,  made 
astronomical  observations,  and  from  whom  many  things 
worthy  of  credit  have  come  to  us  concerning  the  several  con- 
stellations. 

Aristotle  might  have  given,  from  the  records  sent  him 
by  Callisthenes,  a  more  extended  account  of  the  great  at- 
tainments of  the  Chaldeans  in  astronomy,  unless  we  are  to 
suppose  he  lacked  a  competent  knowledge  of  the  language 
in  which  those  records  were  written.  The  priests  of  an- 
cient Egypt  were  skilled  in  astronomy.  During  many 
ages  they  were  accustomed  to  make  and  record  observa- 
tions. According  to  a  statement  of  Diogenes  Laertius,  he 
had  ascertained  that  they  had  preserved  records  of  373 


Chaldean  and  Egyptian  Astronomy.          117 

solar  and  832  lunar  eclipses.  Bunsen  assumed,  too  readi- 
ly, that  the  eclipses  observed  were  all  total,  or  nearly  so, 
and  therefore  "must  have  extended  over  10,000  years." 
The  assumption  being  unwarranted,  the  inference  fails ;  in 
Egypt,  however,  the  study  of  astronomy  was  very  ancient ; 
there,  as  well  as  in  Chaldea,  in  the  more  ancient  times,  we 
must  suppose  it  reached  higher  results  than  were  attained 
in  later  times.  In  Egypt,  and  "  other  countries  at  the 
East,"  Pythagoras  and  other  Greeks  found  the  heliocentric 
system,  which  we  call  Copernican — a  system  which  they 
accepted  without  fully  comprehending  the  science  that  pro- 
duced it,  and  which  the  Greek  world,  more  remarkable  for 
literature  and  art  than  for  mathematical  and  astronomical 
science,  could  not  retain. 

It  is  folly — the  folly  of  prejudice  and  preconceived  crit- 
icism— to  deny,  against  the  testimony  of  all  antiquity,  that 
the  Chaldeans  and  Egyptians,  especially  the  former,  had 
great  knowledge  of  astronomy.  I  need  not  cite  the  famil- 
iar passages  in  Greek  and  Roman  literature  which  show 
this ;  but  it  may  be  said  with  confidence  that,  if  there  had 
been  at  Athens  a  great  observatory  similar  to  that  in  the 
temple  of  Belus  at  Babylon,  associated  in  the  same  way 
with  reports  of  eminent  attainments  in  astronomy,  our  in- 
quiries concerning  it  would  not  be  regulated  by  doubt  and 
incredulity.  On  the  contrary,  if  we  now  obscure  the  wiser 
peoples  of  antiquity  with  clouds  of  incense  offered  blindly 
to  the  Greeks,  we  should,  in  that  case,  believe  extravagant- 
ly, and  might  lose  our  wits  beyond  recovery  in  the  vehe- 
mence of  our  adoration. 

We  must  give  attention  to  one  fact  that  has  peculiar 
significance.  The  zodiac,  representing  the  apparent  path 
of  the  sun  in  the  heavens,  with  the  names  and  symbolical 


118  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

figures  of  its  signs  substantially  the  same,  was  common 
to  Chaldea,  India,  Egypt,  and  Arabia.  Sometimes  eleven 
signs  were  counted,  the  claws  of  the  scorpion  representing 
the  sign  known  as  Libra.  Sextus  Empiricus  and  others 
stated  that  the  zodiac,  as  we  have  it,  came  directly  from 
the  Chaldeans.  The  great  similarity  of  the  zodiacs  used 
in  Egypt,  India,  and  the  countries  of  Western  Asia  shows 
that  they  must  have  had  a  common  origin,  and  to  find  their 
origin  we  must  go  to  the  older  people  who  gave  all  these 
countries  civilization,  and  prepared  them  to  become  great 
nations. 

The  science  of  astronomy  prevalent  in  Chaldea,  Egypt, 
and  other  old  nations,  so  generally,  although  imperfectly 
noticed  by  Greeks  and  Romans,  and  of  which  so  many  frag- 
ments have  come  down  to  us,  must  have  been  originated 
by  the  ancient  Arabians  in  the  earlier  periods  of  their  civ- 
ilization. The  starry  heavens  naturally  engage  attention 
even  among  barbarians,  and  a  systematic  study  of  the  stars 
has  so  many  practical  uses  that  astronomy  must  have  been 
one  of  the  earliest  sciences.  Add  to  this  the  peculiar  ge- 
nius of  the  old  Arabian  race  and  their  favorable  atmos- 
phere, with  the  fact  that  they  were  pre-eminently  planet- 
worshippers,  who,  from  the  earliest  times,  had  been  largely 
devoted  to  maritime  enterprise,  and  we  cannot  reasonably 
fail  to  see  that  they  must  have  originated  the  science  of 
astronomy,  and  carried  it  into  all  the  communities  that 
grew  up  under  their  influence.  The  zodiacs  so  closely  re- 
sembling each  other,  found  in  different  countries,  whose 
origin  must  be  traced  to  Arabian  or  Cushite  influence,  must 
have  come  originally  from  Arabia. 

The  Egyptians  regarded  Taut,  or  Thoth,  as  the  originator 
of  astronomy;  the  Phoenicians  and  other  Cushite  peoples 


Ethiopians  Invented  Astronomy.  119 

traced  letters  and  science  to  Taut.  In  the  work  on  As- 
trology attributed  to  Lucian,  the  author  says :  "  It  is  com- 
monly understood  that  the  Ethiopians  were  the  first  who 
invented  astronomy,  being  led  to  this  science  by  their  cloud- 
less sky  and  favorable  climate,  and  by  their  surpassing  in- 
tellectual sagacity,  subtilty,  and  force."  I  have  shown 
what  country  the  ancient  Greeks  described  as  Ethiopia. 
The  Greeks  indicated  not  only  the  great  antiquity  of  the 
sphere,  but  also  the  people  by  whom  it  was  invented,  by 
connecting  its  origin  with  Atlas  and  Hercules. 

There  was  astronomy  in  Arabia  when  the  book  of  Job 
was  written,  but  the  great  ages  of  Cushite  civilization 
closed  at  a  period  which  at  that  time  was  very  ancient. 
The  Arabians  were  eminent  for  their  knowledge  of  astron- 
omy and  mathematics  while  any  influence  of  the  old  cul- 
ture remained  ;  but  in  the  later  times,  the  old  books  had 
perished  not  only  in  Arabia,  but  also  in  Egypt  and  Chal- 
dea.  The  astronomy  of  the  Arabians,  after  the  time  of 
Mahomet,  was  not  the  system  learned  by  Pythagoras  and 
his  followers  of  the  Chaldeans  and  Egyptians.  It  was  that 
of  Ptolemy.  They  brought  it  to  Europe,  and  they  brought 
with  it  something  better,  namely,  mathematical  science, 
giving  Europe  even  the  nine  digits,  or  "  Arabic  figures," 
with  algebra,  of  which  the  old  Greeks  knew  nothing.  The 
word  Al-manac,  like  the  word  Al-gebra,  is  Arabic. 

It  is  easy  to  deny  an  ancient  civilization  when  its  records 
have  perished  and  its  remains  have  become  scanty,  and  de- 
mand something  as  conclusive  as  mathematical  demonstra- 
tion, but  it  is  not  reasonable  to  do  so.  The  astronomical 
science  of  the  Chinese  is  generally  admitted ;  but,  if  China 
were  now  as  far  back  in  the  past  as  Chaldea,  with  no  more 
record  or  remains  of  its  civilization  left  to  enlighten  us, 


120  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

stupid  skepticism,  feeling  very  wise,  would  deny  everything. 
Its  denials,  however,  could  neither  destroy  the  fact  nor  lessen 
the  significance  of  such  traces  of  it  as  might  remain  for 
study.  Inquiry  tends  more  and  more  to  show  that  we  must 
give  up  the  vain  assumption  that  not  much  was  known  pre- 
vious to  the  rise  of  Greece,  and  not  much  at  any  time  out 
of  Greece,  until  Western  Europe  became  enlightened.  There 
was  much  more  in  the  past  than  we  have  been  accustomed 
to  admit ;  but  this  is  seen  only  when  the  aim  of  our  inquiry 
is  to  discover,  and  not  merely  to  deny. 

The  nautical  science  of  the  old  Arabians  must  have  been 
equal  to  the  wants  of  their  great  commercial  enterprise ;  for 
the  faculty  to  invent  what  was  necessary  did  not  wait  until 
our  tune  to  make  its  first  appearance  in  the  human  mind. 
It  is  seen  that  the  Phoenicians,  when  they  came  out  of  the 
obscure  pre-historic  ages  into  history,  were  immeasurably 
superior  to  every  other  people  in  maritime  skill.  No  other 
people  had  such  naval  constructions ;  no  other  people  were 
so  much  at  sea,  or  made  such  long  voyages,  or  had  such  skill 
in  navigation.  Some  ages  later,  the  Athenians  had  ships ; 
but  they  had  nothing  like  the  great  Phoenician  ships  that 
came  regularly  to  Athens  in  the  service  of  commerce,  and 
were  always  regarded  there  as  marvels  of  naval  architec- 
ture. What  the  Phoenicians  were  on  the  Mediterranean, 
the  Southern  Arabians  were  on  the  Indian  Ocean,  although 
history,  necessarily,  has  much  less  to  say  of  them ;  and  these 
peoples  representing  in  the  later  ages  of  its  decline  the  great 
race  that  had  been,  for  not  less  than  six  millenniums  prob- 
ably, foremost  in  human  affairs,  give  us  some  notion  of  what 
must  have  been  the  attainments  of  that  race  in  the  ages  of 
its  highest  development  and  power.  The  marvelous  skill 
of  the  Phoenicians  in  manufactures  would  have  been  impos- 


Origin  of  the  Mariner's  Compass.  121 

sible  without  unusual  intellectual  activity,  aided  by  great " 
attainments  in  science.  Is  it  reasonable  to  believe  that  the 
nautical  science  of  such  a  people,  with  whom  maritime  en- 
terprise was  a  chief  busine.ss,  could  have  been  poor  and 
mean  ?  Such  a  belief  is  possible  only  to  the  prodigious  in- 
credulity of  egotistical  skepticism. 

It  has  been  usual  to  assume  that  nautical  science  never 
existed  anywhere  much  previous  to  the  beginning  of  the 
fourteenth  century,  and  that  such  things  as  the  mariner's 
compass,  the  astrolabe,  and  other  scientific  instruments  to 
aid  navigation,  were  not  heard  of  previous  to  that  age.  The 
mariner's  compass,  it  has  been  said,  was  invented  by  Flavio 
Gioja,  at  Pasitava,  near  Amalfi,  in  Italy,  in  the  year  1302. 
Unfortunately  for  the  prestige  of  orthodox  wisdom,  it  has 
been  shown  that  the  mariner's  compass  was  in  use  long 
previous  to  this  date.  Raymond  Lully,  in  his  "  Fenix  de 
las  Maravillas  del  Orbe,"  published  in  1286,  states  that  the 
seamen  of  his  time  used  "  instruments  of  measurement,  sea- 
charts,  and  the  magnetic  needle — Tenian  los  mareantes  in- 
stmmento,  carta,  compas  y  ctfjuja"  A  Latin  letter  or  essay 
of  Peter  Adsiger,  dated  in  1209,  and  cited  in  Rees's  Cyclo- 
paedia, speaks  of  the  mariner's  compass  as  if  it  had  been  in 
use  for  a  long  time,  gives  a  very  particular  description  of 
it,  and  says :  "  Take  notice  that  the  magnet,  as  well  as  the 
needle  that  has  been  touched  by  it,  does  not  point  exactly 
to  the  poles ;  the  south  point  declines  a  little  to  the  west, 
and  the  north  point  to  the  east."  In  the  year  1180,  the 
mariner's  compass  was  very  fully  described  in  a  poem  of 
one  of  the  Proven§al  Troubadours,  named  Guyot  de  Provins. 
He  described  the  magnet,  the  method  of  preparing  the  nee- 
dle, and  the  certainty  with  which  it  points  to  the  polar  star? 
Festoile  qui  ne  se  muct.  He  stated  that  the  needle,  fixed  to 

F 


\-2~2  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

bits  of  straw,  was  made  to  swim  on  water  in  a  dish.  Then 
it  turned  steadily  to  the  pole  and  could  not  lie,  but  was  a 
sure  guide  to  the  mariner  in  the  darkest  night. 

"Puis  se  tourne  la  pointe  toute 
Centre  1'estoile,  si  sans  doute 
Que  j'a  nus  horn  n'en  doutera 
Ne  ja  por  rien  ne  faussera." 

Guyot  de  Provins  was  at  the  court  of  Frederick  Barba- 
rossa,  at  Mentz,  in  the  year  1181.  The  date  and  authentic- 
ity of  his  poem  are  both  undoubted.  To  him  the  mariner's 
compass  was  one  of  the  common  things  which  had  been  in 
use  for  a  long  time,  and  might  have  existed  from  time  im- 
memorial. Some  have  supposed  that  Marco  Polo  brought 
the  magnetic  needle  from  China  in  1295,  and  taught  Flavio 
Gioja  how  to  produce  the  mariner's  compass ;  but  Guyot 
de  Provins  wrote  that  poem  long  before  Marco  Polo  was 
born.  It  is  known  that  the  early  Venetians  used  the  com- 
pass, making  the  needle  swim  on  water  by  fixing  it  to  a 
piece  of  cork.  Plautus,  in  his  Mercatore,  act  v.,  scene  2,  has 
the  following:  Hue  secundus  ventus  est^cape  modo  vorso- 
riam.  The  word  vorsoriam  has  been  interpreted  to  mean 
the  mariner's  compass,  although  some  critics  have  tried  to 
see  in  it  a  rope,  or  the  helm  of  a  ship.  Pineda  and  Father 
Kircher  argued  earnestly  to  show  that  the  compass  \\  as 
used  by  the  Phoenicians  and  Hebrews  in  the  time  of  Solo- 
mon, which  was  much  more  reasonable  than  the  claim  that 
it  was  first  invented  in  Europe. 

It  is  found  necessary  to  admit,  and  therefore  Humboklt 
(Cosmos,  chapter  on  the  Period  of  Oceanic  Discoveries) 
states  as  a  fact,  that  the  mariner's  compass  was  brought  to 
Europe  by  the  Arabians.  He  says:  "The  Arabic  desig- 
nations Zophron  and  Aphron  (south  and  north),  given  by 


What  Flavio  Gioja  represents.  123 

Vincenzius  of  Beauvais,  in  his  '  Mirror  of  Nature,'  to  the 
two  points  of  the  magnetic  needle,  indicate,  like  many  Ara- 
bic names  of  stars  which  we  still  use,  the  channel  and  the 
people  from  whom  the  Western  countries  received  their 
knowledge."  Humboldt  suggests  that  the  Arabians  may 
have  received  the  compass  from  the  Chinese,  who  appear  to 
have  used  the  magnetic  needle  in  the  time  of  Hoang-ti,  more 
than  2700  years  previous  to  the  Christian  Era.  Could  we 
have  a  complete  history  of  Arabia  previous  to  that  date, 
it  might  appear  that  the  Chinese  themselves  received  it 
from  the  Arabian  Cushites.  Be  this  as  it  may,  we  cannot 
reasonably  suppose  that  such  a  people  as  the  ancient  Ara- 
bians, endowed  with  remarkable  aptitude  for  making  sci- 
ence practical,  constantly  engaged  in  navigation,  and  per- 
petually incited  to  contrive  nautical  instruments  and  im- 
prove nautical  science,  were  less  likely  to  invent  the  mari- 
ner's compass  than  the  Chinese.  To  believe  this  requires 
greater  credulity  than  reason  can  tolerate. 

Flavio  Gioja  represents  the  age  when  nautical  instru- 
ments first  came  into  general  use  among  the  present  peo- 
ples of  Western  Europe,  but  he  does  not  represent  the  age 
when  they  were  first  invented.  The  people  we  call  Moors, 
Saracens,  and  Arabians  inherited  the  remains  of  the  old 
Cushite  civilization.  They  had  the  mariner's  compass,  but 
they  did  not  claim  to  have  invented  it.  They  had  "al- 
ways" used  the  compass,  and  we  must  suppose  (for  no  oth- 
er supposition  is  probable)  that  it  had  come  down  to  them 
from  the  Phoenicians.  When  Yasques  di  Gama  went  to 
India  round  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  he  found  the  mariner's 
compass,  the  astrolabe,  and  other  important  nautical  instru- 
ments in  general  use  among  the  Southern  Arabians,  who 
controlled  maritime  enterprise  on  the  Indian  Seas.  Bar- 


124:  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

low,  in  his  "Navigator's  Supply,"  published  in  1597,  states 
that  he  had  ascertained  by  personal  inquiry  and  observa- 
tion that  "instead  of  our  compass  they  used  a  magnetic 
needle  about  six  inches  long,  suspended  on  a  pin,  in  a  white 
China  dish  filled  with  water,  in  the  bottom  of  which  were 
two  cross  lines  marking  the  cardinal  points."  This  method 
of  using  the  needle  is  the  same  as  that  employed  by  the 
Arabian  race  on  the  Mediterranean.  It  indicates  that  they 
all  had  the  compass  from  the  same  source. 

We  have  some  very  plain  indications  of  the  existence  of 
the  mariner's  compass  among  the  Phoenicians.  The  mag- 
net was  described  as  "  the  stone  of  Hercules ;"  and  we  have 
very  significant  accounts  of  "the  cup  of  Hercules,"  which 
reminds  us  of  the  cup  in  which  the  later  Arabians  floated 
the  needle.  Hercules,  it  is  said,  departed  on  his  great  mari- 
time expedition  to  the  West  with  a  cup  which  he  had  re- 
ceived from  Apollo.  The  cup  is  associated  with  Hercules 
not  only  in  the  myths,  but  also  in  sculptured  and  other 
representations,  which  show  him  with  a  cup  in  his  hand. 
Kothing  could  have  been  more  natural  to  the  Phoenician 
mariners  than  to  associate  the  magnetic  needle  with  the 
gods,  and  regard  it  as  a  divine  oracle.  When  not  in  use, 
the  place  of  the  compass  would  be  in  a  temple,  apart  from 
familiar  approaches.  The  Ba3tylia,  or  "  Stones  having  life," 
Avhich,  we  are  told  in  Sanchoniathon,  were  made  by  Ouranos, 
are  supposed  to  indicate  ancient  experiments  with  the 
magnet. 

Knowledge  of  the  properties  of  the  magnet  existed  in 
very  remote  times.  We  find  traces  of  it  everywhere.  It 
appears  in  the  old  Sanskrit  myths.  Wilford  says :  In  the 
Chatur-varya-chintdmdni,  it  is  said  that  when  the  daitayas, 
being  defeated,  fled  before  the  gods  and  found  no  shelter, 


The  Cushites  invented  the  Compass.          125 

Siicrdchctryya  created  an  immense  magnet,  like  a  mount- 
ain, by  whieh  the  iron-tipped  arrows  cf  the  gods  were  at- 
tracted; whereupon  Indra  struck  the  mountain-like  mag- 
net with  his  thunder,  shivering  it  into  numberless  splinters, 
which  fell  upon  the  land  and  into  the  sea,  existing  thereaf- 
ter as  magnetic  rocks. 

The  credulous  skepticism  that  believes  the  old  Arabians, " 
with  their  practical  spirit,  their  penetrating  intellect,  and 
their  nautical  wants,  could  have  the  magnet  and  under- 
stand its  properties  without  producing  the  magnetic  needle, 
greatly  needs  the  wholesome  discipline  of  reason.  It  is 
certain  that  the  mariner's  compass  was  not  originated  in 
Europe,  nor  among  the  later  Arabians  from  whom  we  re- 
ceived it.  Where  did  it  originate  ?  How  shall  we  reason- 
ably explain  its  origin  if  we  refuse  to  believe  it  was  in- 
vented by  the  greatest  maritime  people  of  antiquity — the 
great  people  who  monopolized  maritime  enterprise  for  so 
many  centuries,  not  to  say  millenniums,  and  who  created 
the  ancient  civilizations  ?  Its  history,  so  far  as  we  can 
trace  it,  leads  us  directly  to  this  explanation ;  no  other  is 
so  obvious,  so  probable,  or  so  necessary  to  a  just  compre- 
hension of  antiquity  itself. 

But,  it  is  said, "  If  the  Phosnicians  and  their  predecessors 
had  the  mariner's  compass,  Avhy  did  not  the  Greeks  and 
Romans  make  a  full  record  of  this  fact  ?  and  how  did  it 
happen  that  all  knowledge  of  the  compass  was  lost?" 
Knowledge  of  the  compass  was  not  lost  by  those  who  used 
it.  Perhaps  the  Greeks  and  Romans  knew  more  of  it  in  a 
general  way  than  they  have  told  us ;  and  if  they  did  not 
know  enough  of  the  compass  to  explain  it,  or  if,  knowing 
something  of  it,  they  regarded  it  merely  as  a  thaumatur- 
gical  instrument  of  no  practical  importance,  they  would 


12(1  P re-Historic  Nations. 

not  be  likely  to  make  it  a  topic  in  their  writings.  The 
Greeks  must  have  known  much  concerning  the  history, 
manufactures,  enterprises,  and  nautical  science  of  the  Phoe- 
nicians which  they  did  not  write  down  in  their  books. 
They  did  say  something.  Strabo,  referring  to  the  oppor- 
tunities afforded  by  the  cities  of  Phoenicia  for  studying  ge- 
ometry, astronomy,  and  other  sciences,  says :  "  The  Sidoni- 
ans  are  said  by  historians  to  excel  in  various  arts,  and  they 
cultivate  science,  and  study  astronomy,  arithmetic,  and 
niyht  sailing,  each  of  which  concerns  the  merchant  and  the 
seaman."  Nicfht  sailing !  What  does  that  mean  ?  It  was  a 

~  o 

science  peculiar  to  the  Phoenicians.  We  hear  of  it  nowhere 
else.  Strabo  himself,  probably,  could  not  have  explained  it. 
It  should  be  remembered  that,  among  the  enlightened 
peoples  of  antiquity,  the  methods  of  communication  were 
different  from  ours.  The  current  knowledge  of  their  time 
was  not  published  every  morning  in  newspapers.  The 
progress  of  science  was  not  regularly  announced  to  the 
public  either  in  monthly  bulletins  or  annual  reports;  and, 
what  is  more,  the  higher  studies  in  science  and  philosophy 
were  not  conducted  openly  before  the  public  so  much  as  in 
secret  societies.  Pythagoras  found  it  necessary  to  undergo 
a  very  severe  ordeal  of  initiation  before  he  could  be  al- 
lowed to  pursue  his  studies  in  Egypt.  In  the  matter  of 
learning  and  its  mysteries,  exclusiveness  and  secretiveness 
were  much  more  common  among  the  ancient  peoples  than 
publicity  and  frank  communication.  No  ancient  people 
hastened  to  communicate  to  all  others  its  wisdom  in  the 
arts  and  sciences ;  on  the  contrary,  the  rule  was  to  conceal 
and  hold  it  as  the  exclusive  possession  of  those  to  whom 
it  belonged ;  and,  to  a  great  extent,  the  highest  and  bold- 
est developments  of  science  and  philosophy  were  carefully 
shut  up  in  secret  societies. 


Secrecy  of  Phcenician  Commerce.  127 

It  is  well  known  that  the  Phoenicians,  as  far  as  possible, 
drew  the  curtain  of  secrecy  over  the  whole  business  of  their 
commerce;  and  we  see  in  the  statements  of  Herodotus  that 
the  Southern  Arabians  pursued  the  same  policy.  Can  it 
be  supposed,  or  even  imagined,  that  these  wonderful  navi- 
gators and  traders,  having  the  mariner's  compass,  would  go 
into  all  the  public  places  of  the  known  world,  and  there  an- 
nounce it,  explain  it,  and,  giving  it  to  all  other  peoples,  in- 
vite them  to  become  their  commercial  rivals?  No;  they 
would  have  hidden  it  from  observation  with  the  most  jeak 
ous  care.  Nothing  else  connected  with  their  business 
would  have  been  kept  in  profounder  secrecy.  A  means  of 
maritime  supremacy  so  sure,  and  to  other  peoples  so  mys- 
terious, would  have  been  withdrawn  from  the  scrutiny  of 
Greek  and  Roman  curiosity  as  carefully  as  the  most  sacred 
things  of  their  religion  were  secured  against  the  blasphem- 
ing impertinence  of  its  enemies.  The  people  who  braved 
shipwreck  to  hide  the  Cassiterides  from  the  Romans  were 
not  likely  to  make  it  possible  for  Greeks  and  Romans  to 
understand  and  describe  their  greatest  treasure,  the  mari- 
ner's compass.  Therefore,  when  the  mariner's  compass  has 
been  fairly  traced  to  the  Phoenicians,  it  is  preposterous  to 
object,  seriously,  that  the  Greeks  and  Romans  have  given 
us  no  account  of  it. 

A  good  old  lady  living  in  one  of  the  most  secluded  val- 
leys of  the  Green  Mountains  was  visited  one  day  by  a 
little  company  of  romantic  pleasure-seekers.  She  asked 
them  where  they  lived  when  at  home ;  and  on  being  told 
that  their  homes  were  in  Boston,  she  exclaimed  with  raised 
hands,  "How  can  anybody  be  willing  to  live  so  far  off!" 
It  is  to  be  feared  that  some  persons  contemplate  antiquity 
with  intelligence  very  similar  to  that  of  this  most  excel- 


128  Pre-IIistoric  Nations. 

lent  old  lady.  They  find  it  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to 
believe  there  could  have  been  anything  worthy  of  atten- 
tion in  ages  "  so  far  off."  They  are  sure  that  nothing  of 
much  importance  could  have  existed  previous  to  our  time. 
This  style  of  intelligence  is  always  preposterous ;  but  it 
reaches  the  superlative  degree  when  allowed  to  guide  the 
judgment  of  scholarly  gentlemen  whose  chief  aim  is  to  es- 
tablish a  reputation  for  "  critical  discrimination." 


IV. 

THE  PHCENICIANS. 

HEEREN,  pursuing  his  inquiries  concerning  the  nations 
of  antiquity,  was  constrained  to  say,  "The  severest  loss 
Ancient  History  has  to  mourn — a  loss  irreparable — is  the 
destruction  of  those  records  that  would  inform  us  of  the 
affairs,  the  government,  and  the  enterprises  of  the  Phoeni- 
cians." Heeren's  ".Researches"  have  great  value.  His  eth- 
nic assumptions  are  not  always  correct,  and  his  conception 
of  antiquity  was  not  sufficiently  extensive  to  take  in  the 
whole  career  of  the  old  Cushite  race,  to  which  the  Phoeni- 
cians belonged ;  but  he  wrote  more  than  fifty  years  ago, 
without  aid  from  the  later  discoveries.  The  lost  records 
of  this  whole  race  would  indeed  shed  a  great  light  on  the 
past ;  nevertheless,  it  will  be  readily  admitted  that  a  com- 
plete history  of  the  people  known  as  Phoenicians,  or  even 
a  complete  record  of  Sidon  or  Tyre,  giving  a  history  of  its 
maritime  operations  from  the  beginning,  its  manufactures, 
its  commerce,  its  colonies,  and  its  commercial  and  political 
relations  with  the  rest  of  the  world,  would  be  an  invaluable 
acquisition. 

The  term  Phoenicia  is  of  Greek  origin.  The  Greeks  ap- 
plied it  to  a  small  district  on  the  Mediterranean,  which  ap- 
pears to  have  been  the  only  Asiatic  territory  controlled  by 
the  people  called  Phoenicians  after  the  date  of  the  first 
Olympiad.  This  was  only  a  fragment  of  their  more  an- 
cient dominion,  and  they  themselves  were  only  a  fragment 

F2 


130  Pn-Hi#toric  Nations. 

of  the  still  more  ancient  empire  of  the  Arabian  Cushites. 
The  term  Phoenicia  did  not  come  into  use  until  long  after 
the  Phoenician  dominion — in  Asia  Minor,  on  the  Black  Sea, 
and  on  the  islands  and  coasts  of  the  ^Egean  and  Eastern 
Mediterranean — was  broken.  We  call  certain  people  Moors 
who  never  knew  themselves  by  the  name  we  give  them. 
So  did  the  Greeks  and  Romans  describe  a  certain  people 
of  antiquity  as  Phoenicians.  We  can  not  have  a  regular 
history  of  this  people ;  but  we  know  that  the  early  Greeks 
called  them  Ethiopians.  Notices  of  them  are  found  in 
Greek  literature ;  tradition  gives  some  account  of  them ; 
traces  of  their  character  and  civilization  are  found  in  the 
many  regions  where  they  had  colonies  or  commercial  es- 
tablishments ;  and  there  is  something  for  study  in  the  un- 
explained yet  unavoidable  impression  of  their  greatness 
felt  by  every  student  of  ancient  history. 

ORIGIN    OF   THE    PHOENICIANS. 

Herodotus,  beginning  his  record  of  historical  events 
among  the  "  Greeks  and  barbarians,"  states,  on  the  author- 
ity of  "  the  learned  among  the  Persians,"  that  "  the  Phoeni- 
cians migrated  from  the  shores  of  the  Erythraean  Sea  to  the 
Mediterranean."  The  Greek  writers  frequently  mention 
ancient  historical  works,  relating  to  Western  Asia,  that 
would  tell  much  we  desire  to  know.  Strabo  mentions  "  an- 
cient histories  of  Persia,  Media,  and  Syria ;"  and  we  know 
from  statements  in  Oriental  books  that  there  were  "  ancient 
histories  of  Iran."  It  is  probable  that  Herodotus  had  some 
knowledge  of  such  works.  He  states  that  the  Phoenicians 
themselves  had  the  same  tradition  concerning  their  origin. 

o  ^ 

In  book  vii.,  ch.  Ixxxix.,  he  repeats  his  first  statement  thus : 
"  The  Phoenicians,  as  they  themselves  say,  anciently  dwelt 


What  the  Immigration  means.  131 

on  the  Erythraean  Sea;  and,  having  crossed  over  from 
thence,  they  settled  on  the  sea-coast  of  Syria."  Eratosthenes 
found  the  same  tradition  in  certain  islands  of  the  Persian 
Gulf,  named  Aradus  and  Tyrus  or  Tylus,  supposed  to  be 
the  same  as  the  Bahreyn  Islands  of  modern  times,  one  of 
which  is  still  called  Arad.  These  islands  are  on  the  coast 
of  Arabia,  in  a  bay  that  extends  from  the  Persian  Gulf. 

It  will  appear  that  the  people  called  Phoenicians  were  a 
branch  of  the  great  Cushite  race,  and  that  the  country 
they  occupied  was  originally  a  part  of  that  empire  of 
Cusha-dwipa  which  extended  from  the  Erythraean  Sea  to 
the  Mediterranean.  At  that  very  remote  period,  when  the 
first  Cushite  settlements  were  established  on  the  Mediter- 
ranean, there  was  undoubtedly  a  great  movement  of  the 
Arabian  Cushites  in  that  direction  from  all  parts  of  the 
peninsula,  and  especially  from  the  commercial  districts  on 
the  southern  and  eastern  coasts ;  and  probably  there  were 
other  migrations,  at  subsequent  periods,  whenever  a  new 
city  was  founded,  or  some  new  commercial  opportunity 
stimulated  enterprise  to  seek  that  coast.  The  tradition  re 
ported  by  Eratosthenes  appears  to  signify,  at  least,  that, 
when  Tyre  was  founded,  its  builders  from  Sidon  were  joined 
by  immigrants  from  the  Bahreyn  Islands  and  the  Arabian 
coast  with  which  they  are  so  closely  connected.  Political 
considerations  may  have  done  something  to  incite  this  mi- 
gration, for  the  unity  of  the  ancient  Cushite  dominion  must 
have  disappeared  before  Tyre  was  built,  and  the  independ- 
ent nationality  of  the  Phoenicians  must  then  have  reached 
that  great  condition  of  prosperity  which  it  maintained  for 
centuries  afterwards. 

Linguistic  and  archaeological  research  have  made  two 
points  very  clear:  first,  that  the  oldest  traces  of  a  civilized 


132  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

people  found  in  Asia  Minor,  especially  in  the  coast  regions, 
are  those  of  the  Cushites,  or  Ethiopians ;  and,  second,  that 
there  was  a  very  close  relationship  between  the  Phoenicians 
and  the  ancient  people  of  Southern  Arabia,  or,  to  translate 
the  words  of  a  distinguished  French  explorer  and  philolo- 
gist [Ernest  Renan]  :  "  It  must  be  admitted  that  singular 
relations  exist  between  the  ethnographic,  historic,  and  lin- 
guistic position  of  Yemen  and  that  of  Phoenicia."  These 
points  are  now  so  generally  admitted  by  those  familiar 
with  the  evidence  on  which  they  rest,  that  an  elaborate 
discussion  of  this  evidence  is  not  required. 

Mr.  Rawlinson,  in  his  essay  "  On  the  Ethnic  Affinities  of 
the  Nations  of  Western  Asia,"  states  the  admitted  result 
of  investigation  to  be  that  Karaites  or  Cushites  preceded 
Semitic  and  Aryan  civilization  throughout  that  whole  re- 
gion ;  and  he  names  "  Arabia,  Babylonia,  Susiana,  Philistia, 
Sidon,  Tyre,  and  the  country  of  the  Hittites"  as  points 
where  their  traces  are  especially  noticeable.  His  essay  is 
by  no  means  all  that  can  be  desired  on  this  subject,  while- 
his  Turanizing  speculation  cannot  be  very  satisfactory  to 
himself.  Any  theory  that  classes  the  languages  of  the 
Egyptians,  Himyarite  Arabians,  early  Chaldeans,  and  early 
Canaanites  as  "Turanian  languages,"  should  not  expect 
much  success.  Nevertheless, he  says :  "The  primeval  Ca- 
naanites, indeed,  were  of  the  race  of  Ham  (/.  e.,  they  were 
Cushites),  and  no  doubt  originally  spoke  a  dialect  closely 
akin  to  the  Egyptian."  In  another  place  he  points  out 
that  Hamites,  or  Ethiopians, "  were  the  original  founders 
of  most  of  the  towns"  occupied  by  the  Phoenicians,  includ- 
ing even  Sidon  itself,  and  starts  these  questions :  "  Are  we 
to  identify  the  Phoenicians  with  the  Canaanites,  and  under- 
stand a  Hamitic  migration  from  Chaldea  or  Susiana  in 


Rawlinsorfs  Speculations.  133 

times  long  anterior  to  Abraham  ?  or  are  we  to  distinguish 
between  the  two  races,  and  to  regard  Herodotus  as  describ- 
ing a  long  subsequent  immigration  of  Semites  into  these 
parts — a  settlement  of  Phoenicians,  as  we  know  them  in 
history,  among  the  Canaanites,  a  people  of  quite  a  different 
character  ?" 

This  is  creating  difficulty  where  none  exists,  and  where 
none  can  be  felt  save  by  those  who  are  predetermined  to 
class  the  Phoenicians  as  Semites,  and  whose  untenable  chro- 
nology forbids  a  just  comprehension  of  the  past.  The  Phoe- 
nicians, "  as  we  know  them  in  history"  written  under  these 
influences,  are  very  poorly  understood.  Should  Mr.  Raw- 
linson  study  the  case  with  entire  freedom  of  mind,  he  could 
not  allow  himself  to  doubt  that  Herodotus  meant  a  Cush- 
ite  immigration  "  in  times  long  anterior  to  Abraham" — not 

o  o 

"  from  Chaldea  or  Susiana,"  which  is  pure  invention,  but 
"from  the  shores  of  the  Erythraean  Sea,  from  Southern  Ara- 
bia." It  may  also  be  suggested  that  the  Phoenicians  meant 
by  Herodotus,  according  to  his  own  statement,  founded 
Tyre  about  2760  years  before  the  Christian  Era,  and  car- 
ried letters  and  civilization  to  Hellas  (or  to  the  countiy 
that  afterwards  became  Hellas)  long  previous  to  the  date 
fixed  for  this  imagined  "  immigration  of  Semites  into  thftsc 
parts,"  to  become  the  Phoenicians. 

We  have  seen,  in  another  place,  that  the  whole  Asiatic 
region  on  the  Mediterranean  was  anciently  a  part  of  Ethi- 
opia, or  the  Land  of  Gush,  and  that  Joppa  (lopia),  one  of 
the  most  ancient  Phoenician  cities,  was  the  royal  city  of 
"Kepheus  the  Ethiopian."  Among  the  notes  to  Hamilton 
and  Falconer's  version  of  Strabo  are  the  following :  "  We 
have  before  remarked  that  the  Ethiopia  visited  by  Mene- 
laus  was  not  the  country  above  Egypt,  but  an  Ethiopia  ly- 


134  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

ing  around  Jaffa,  the  ancient  Joppa."  Again  :  "  The  name 
of  Ethiopians,  given  by  Ephorus  to  fugitive  Canaanites, 
confirms  what  we  have  before  stated,  that  the  environs  of 
Jaffa,  and  possibly  the  entire  of  Palestine,  anciently  bore 
the  name  of  Ethiopia."  The  most  ancient  Greeks,  in  their 
writings  and  traditions,  knew  nothing  of  that  name,  Phoe- 
nicians, but  they  did  know  and  use  such  names  as  Ethio- 
pians, Sidonians,  and  Aradians.  Ethiopia  was  the  term 
most  commonly  applied  to  the  country  afterwards  called 
Phoenicia;  and  this  term,  as  an  appellation  to  describe 
some  of  the  communities  and  districts  that  were  under 
Phoenician  control,  did  not  pass  out  of  use  until  after  the 
beginning  of  the  Christian  Era. 

Jerome,  in  his  catalogue  of  ecclesiastical  writers,  men- 
tions that  St.  Andrew  preached  the  Gospel  in  towns  on  the 
two  Colchic  rivers,  Asparus  and  Phasis,  and  calls  the  peo- 
ple Ethiopians :  "  Ubi  est  irruptio  Aspari  et  Phasis — illio 
incolunt  ^Ethiopes  interiores."  He  says  the  same  of  Mat- 
thias :  "  In  altera  ^Ethiopia,  ubi  est  irruptio  Apsari  et  Hys- 
si  portus,  praedicavit."  This  ancient  name,  lingering  still 
in  later  times,  is  sufficient  to  determine  the  ethnic  charac- 
ter of  the  Phoenicians.  They  were  Arabian  Cushites — the 
Ethiopians  of  Greek  antiquity — who  came  to  the  Mediter- 
ranean and  established  that  "  multitude  of  flourishing  com- 
mercial cities,"  which,  as  Heeren  says, "  adorned  the  coun- 
tries of  Phoenicia  and  Asia  Minor,  and  formed  an  almost 
unbroken  line  from  the  Straits  of  Byzantium  to  the  con- 
fines of  Egypt."  In  most  of  their  communities  there  seems 
to  have  been  a  remarkable  mixture  of  races,  but  there  is  no 
reason  to  doubt  that  their  dominion  over  this  whole  region 
was  maintained  for  a  long  time  after  the  decline  of  the 
great  Cushite  empire  in  Western  Asia,  the  "  great  Sidon" 


Concerning  " that  remote  Period"  135 

being,  at  an  early  time,  their  metropolitan  city,  preceded, 
however,  in  ages  still  earlier,  by  Martu  or  Marathus.  It 
finally  gave  way,  and  their  Asiatic  territory  gradually 
shrunk  to  the  small  district  in  which  authentic  history 
found  them. 

THE    IMMIGRATION   DOUBTED. 

Some  writers,  in  discussing  what  Herodotus  says  of  the 
Phoenicians,  have  discredited  such  an  immigration  as  im- 
probable in  the  highest  degree,  if  not  impossible.  They 
have  said, "  The  great  difficulties  of  such  a  migration  from 
the  Erythraean  Sea  to  the  Mediterranean,  at  that  remote 
period,  made  it  utterly  impracticable."  Those  who  have 
used,  in  this  connection,  the  phrase  "  at  that  remote  peri- 
od," have  deemed  it  very  powerful  and  conclusive.  They 
have  assumed,  and  supposed  everybody  else  would  admit 
as  a  matter  of  course,  that  all  men  were  ignorant  barbari- 
ans "  at  that  remote  period,"  destitute  of  the  arts  of  civil- 
ized life.  "  That  remote  period,"  they  are  quite  sure,  was 
not  far  from  the  dreary  "  Stone  Age"  in  the  unwritten  his- 
tory of  "Western  Asia,  when  the  noblest  naval  structure 
was  a  loose  raft  of  logs,  and  hunting  and  fishing  with  the 
rudest  stone  and  bone  implements  the  most  serious  under- 
takings of  the  people. 

The  confident  critics  who  raised  this  objection  have 
seemed  deliciously  unconscious  of  its  absurdity.  They  are 
not  as  numerous  now  as  formerly ;  but  those  who  believe 
there  never  was  any  civilization  worth  taking  much  ac- 
count of  previous  to  the  time  of  the  Greeks  are  liable  to 
such  magnificent  flights  in  the  dark.  That  brilliant  skep- 
tic, Voltaire,  writing  on  this  subject  with  more  wit  than 
wisdom,  supposed  the  migration  must  necessarily  have 


136  Pro-Historic  Nations. 

been  impossible  without  a  sea  voyage  around  Africa ;  and 
he  ridiculed  this  supposed  sea  voyage  with  immense  satis- 
faction to  himself,  therein  making  plain  that  brilliant  wit 
is  not  sure  to  save  a  man  from  stupidity. 

Movers,  in  his  elaborate  work  on  the  Phoenicians,  urges 
two  arguments  against  the  migration  described  by  Herodo- 
tus. In  the  first  place,  he  is  sure  it  cannot  have  taken 
place  because  it  is  not  mentioned  in  the  Bible — a  style  of 
argument  not  well  considered.  The  Bible  does  not  de- 
scribe the  building  of  Petra ;  it  does  not  relate  the  history 
of  Balbec ;  it  does  not  tell  us  when  Sidon  was  founded ; 
it  fails  to  explain  either  the  origin  or  the  ethnic  character 
of  the  Philistines.  Moreover,  the  first  settlements  of  the 
Ethiopians  on  the  Mediterranean  were  made  many  centu- 
ries before  the  time  of  Abraham,  and  were  no  more  likely 
to  be  discussed  by  Moses  or  his  successors  than  any  other 
event  of  general  history  far  away  in  the  past.  In  the  sec- 
ond place,  Movers  urges  that,  according  to  Sanchoniathon, 
the  Phoenicians  were  the  original  people  of  the  region  where 
they  dwelt,  and  the  human  race  itself  appeared  first  in  their 
country.  But  the  authorities  tell  us  that  "it  is  now  gen- 
erally agreed  among  scholars  that  the  work  attributed  to 
Sanchoniathon  was  a  forgery  of  Philo  Byblius."  It  is  very 
true  that  what  "is  generally  agreed  among  scholars"  in 
such  cases — like  some  of  the  judgments  in  which  church- 
men, or  medical  scientists,  or  representative  men  of  other 
professions  are,  from  time  to  time,  both  agreed  and  disa- 
greed— are  not  infallible.  The  work  may  be  a  forgery ; 
but  is  it  not  quite  as  probable  that  an  ancient  Phoenician 
should  have  written  such  a  work,  as  that  an  eminent  schol- 
ar of  Philo's  time  should  have  forged  it  ?  The  general 
judgment  of  scholars,  however,  should  have  duo  weight ; 


Movers  on  the  Phoenicians.  137 

therefore  Sanchoniathon  cannot  be  safely  used  to  prove 
anything,  although  many  scholars,  entitled  to  great  respect, 
have  believed  the  work  authentic. 

At  the  same  time,  should  the  work  in  question  be  gener- 
ally accepted  and  used  in  these  investigations  as  a  genuine 
production  of  an  old  Phoenician  writer,  it  would  not  sus- 
tain the  argument  of  Movers.  The  immgrants  who  built 
the  old  Phoenician  cities  did  not  go  out  of  their  own  coun- 
try ;  they  did  nothing  more  than  extend  its  borders  and 
its  population  to  the  Mediterranean  Sea.  Their  country 
was  Ethiopia  or  Cusha-dwipa,  and  the  new  settlements 
were  as  essentially  a  part  of  it  as  the  older  communities 
on  the  Erythraean  Sea.  The  Cushites  who  settled  on  the 
Mediterranean  might  justly  claim  that  their  ancestors  were 
part  of  the  original  people  of  the  ancient  Ethiopia,  without 
meaning  that  they  were  the  original  occupants  of  that  par- 
ticular portion  of  it.  The  argument  of  Movers  had  some 
force  in  his  own  mind,  because  he  assumed  that  the  little 
district  called  Phoenicia  was  all  the  country  ever  known  or 
claimed  in  any  age  by  the  ancient  people  known  in  history 
as  Phoenicians. 

KENAN'S  THEORY. 

Ernest  Renan,  in  his  work  on  the  Semitic  Languages 
(bk.  ii.,  ch.  ii.),  after  showing  that,  in  the  time  of  the  He- 
brews, the  Phoenicians  called  the  district  then  occupied  by 
them  Chna  or  Cna*  and  that  the  Hebrews  designated  the 
whole  Phoenician  people  as  Canaanites,  making  them  a  dif- 
ferent race  from  the  Semites,  speculates  on  the  subject  as 
follows : 

*  Stephanus  of  Byzantium,  and  also  Hecateus,  states  that  the  country 
was  called  Chna. 


133  P  t'c-IIistoriG  Nations. 

"  As  the  Phoenicians  spoke  a  Semitic  language,  the  phi- 
lologist is  invincibly  borne  to  the  conclusion  that  they 
were  themselves  Semites.  The  historian,  however,  sees 
grave  difficulties  in  the  way  of  this  conclusion,  and  is  in 
suspense  in  regard  to  the  real  origin  of  this  people,  Avho 
played  a  part  so  important  in  the  history  of  civilization. 
From  the  first  the  Hebrews  obstinately  spurned  all  frater- 
nity with  Canaan,  and  connected  him  with  the  family  of 
Ham.  For  a  moment  criticism  is  tempted  to  be  of  their 
opinion.  We  said  at  the  beginning,  the  peculiar  charac- 
teristic of  the  Semites  is  to  have  neither  industrial  enter- 
prise, political  spirit,  nor  municipal  organization ;  naviga- 
tion and  colonization  seem  repugnant  to  them ;  their  action 
has  remained  purely  Oriental,  and  has  entered  the  current 
of  European  affairs  indirectly  only,  and  by  repercussion. 
Here  (among  the  Phoenicians),  on  the  contrary,  we  find  an 
industrial  civilization,  political  revolutions,  the  most  active 
commerce  known  to  antiquity,  and  a  nation  incessantly 
spreading  abroad  its  influence,  and  mixing  itself  with  the 
whole  life  of  the  Mediterranean  world." 

Communities  have  sometimes  changed  their  language; 
but  for  one  race  to  borrow,  at  will,  the  essential  peculiari- 
ties of  another  race,  is  impossible.  With  his  belief  in  pro- 
found and  ineradicable  distinctions  between  races — a  belief 
which  in  him  is  emphatic  and  sometimes  extreme — he  might 
have  seen  that  the  civilization  of  the  Phoenicians  made  it 
impossible  to  class  them  with  the  Semitic  family ;  and  also 
that  if,  at  any  comparatively  modern  period  of  their  his- 
tory, they  were  found  using  a  Semitic  dialect,  it  was  because 
unexplained  influences  had  enabled  that  dialect  to  super- 
cede  their  original  tongue.  No  hypothesis  should  have 
been  permitted  to  set  aside  a  fact  so  plain  as  the  manifest 


Ur  of  the  Chaldees.  139 

distinction  of  race.  But  with  him,  as  with  some  others,  it 
was  a  foregone  conclusion  that  the  Phoenicians  were  Se- 
mites, and  he  saw  nothing  to  do  but  to  remove  the  difficul- 
ties as  cleverly  as  possible.  The  emphatic  testimony  of  the 
Hebrew  Scriptures  that  the  Phoenicians  or  Canaanites  did 
not  belong  to  the  Semitic  race  he  treats  as  follows : 

"  The  affinity  established  by  the  Hebrews  between  Ham 
and  Canaan  seems  at  least  to  signify  that,  in  their  view, 
the  Canaanites  came  from  the  south.  Perhaps  the  part 
taken  by  the  Hebrews  to  make  Canaan  an  accursed  race 
influenced  their  ethnography,  and  led  them,  notwithstand- 
ing the  evident  similarity  of  language,  to  withdraw  the 
Phoenicians  from  the  elect  race  of  Shem,  and  place  them  in 
the  infidel  family  of  Ham." 

To  solve  the  problem  without  yielding  his  assumption, 
he  resorts  to  the  mountains  of  Kurdistan,  where  he  finds 
Ur  of  the  Chaldees  (as  will  be  shown  in  the  chapter  on  the 
Chaldeans)  and  his  Aryan  Chaldeans  (les  Kasdes  on  Chal- 
deens  primitifs,  que  tout  porte  a  rattacher  a  la  race  ari- 
enne).  These  mountains  now  become  "  the  common  cradle 
of  the  Semitic  race,"  from  which  the  Phoenicians  went  forth 
first  into  the  great  world  and  traveled  to  Babylonia,  where 
they  remained  an  indefinite  number  of  ages,  long  enough 
to  become  civilized  and  undergo  a  profound  change  of 
character.  These  Semites  from  Kurdistan  were  transform- 
ed into  a  kind  of"  Semitico-Cushites,"  and  "  became  to  their 
unchanged  pastoral  brethren  objects  of  execration."  They 
left  Babylonia  and  settled  in  Canaan  about  2000  years 
B.C.,  he  thinks  long  before  his  chronology  finds  Abraham 
there,  and  five  centuries  before  the  Israelites  entered  the 
land  from  Egypt ;  and  yet,  during  all  this  time,  and  through 
all  these  changes,  these  two  closely  related  Semitic  families 


140  Pre-IIistoric  Nations. 

preserved,  unchanged  and  inviolate,  the  language,  common 
to  both,  which  they  brought  from  the  Kurdish  mountains. 
The  similarity  of  language  remained,  for  the  Hebrews  were 
still  Hebrews  of  the  old  style  in  this  respect,  and,  "  more 
faithful  to  their  language  than  to  their  faith  and  their  man- 
ners, the  Phoenicians  were  still  Semites  in  speech."  It  is 
due  to  Renan  to  say  he  did  not  originate  this  hypothesis ; 
he  borrowed  it  from  M.  Guigniaut,  who  gave  it  to  the 
world  in  his  "  Religions  de  1'Antiquite."  Its  improbability, 
from  beginning  to  end,  is  so  great  and  so  palpable,  that  a 
formal  attempt  to  refute  it  would  be  as  absurd  as  the  hy- 
pothesis itself. 

It  is  nowise  likely  that  Abraham  ever  spoke  Hebrew,  a 
language  that  seems  to  have  been  developed  after  his  time, 
probably  by  some  Semitic  community  in  Syria  that  may 
have  become,  for  a  time,  sufficiently  powerful  to  control  the 
whole  region  known  as  Canaan  and  Palestine.  His  family 
belonged  to  the  nomadic  Semites  of  Mesopotamia ;  and  it 
is  not  improbable  to  suppose  he  spoke  a  Semitic  dialect 
that  was  exchanged  for  Hebrew,  in  Palestine,  by  his  de- 
scendants— perhaps  by  the  family  of  Jacob,  perhaps  at  a 
late?  period.  It  may  be  affirmed  with  confidence  that  He- 
brew was  not  the  original  language  of  the  people  called 
Phoenicians ;  they  were  Cushites  in  race,  language,  and  civ- 
ilization ;  and  if,  in  the  later  ages  of  their  existence  as  a 
people,  they  did  actually  speak  Hebrew  (which  is  not  quite 
so  clear  as  some  have  assumed),  the  Kurdish  mountains 
can  furnish  nothing  to  explain  the  fact.  Such  linguistic 
changes  are  possible ;  history  shows  us  how  to  understand 
them ;  and  the  ethnologist  who  does  not  take  proper  ac- 
count of  them  is  liable  to  go  astray. 


Cushite  Religion  and  Architecture.           Ml 

THEIR   CUSHITE    RELIGION   AND   ARCHITECTURE. 

If  the  Cushite  or  Ethiopian  origin  of  the  Phoenicians 
•were  not  so  distinctly  apparent  in  the  records  of  antiquity, 
in  their  civilization,  and  in  the  other  evidence  of  the  Cush- 
ite character  of  the  first  civilizers  of  the  region  they  occu- 
pied, it  would  still  be  convincingly  manifest  in  their  relig- 
ion, and  in  the  architectural  remains  of  their  ancient  cities. 
The  Hebrew  Scriptures  show  us  their  religion,  and  enable 
us  to  see  its  identity  with  that  of  all  other  peoples  of  the 
same  race.  They  worshipped  "  the  host  of  heaven,"  the 
planets,  as  representatives  of  the  Supreme  Being ;  and 
among  these,  Baal  and  Astarte,  or  Ashteroth,  represented 
the  generative  and  productive  powers  of  nature.  It  was 
the  Cushite  system  found  not  only  in  Phoenicia  and  Arabia, 
but  also  in  Egypt,  Chaldea,  India,  and  wherever  the  influ- 
ence of  this  race  was  established  in  ancient  times.  It  is 
brought  to  light  in  the  old  Phoenician  ruins.  Ernest  Renan, 
who  directed  an  exploration  of  the  ruins  of  that  very  an- 
cient Phoenician  city  which  the  Greeks  called  Marathos, 
and  described  the  results  in  his  "Mission  do  Phoenicie," 
says  on  this  point :  "  The  Egyptian  aspect  of  these  monu- 
ments should  not  surprise  us.  More  and  more,  in  the  course 
of  this  work,  we  shall  see  Phoenicia,  in  a  religious  point  of 
view,  become  a  province  of  Egypt."  He  might  hav^piid, 
more  correctly,  that,  in  a  religious  point  of  view,  Egypt  and 
Phoenicia  were  both  provinces  of  their  mother  country,  the 
ancient  Ethiopia  or  Cusha-dwipa. 

The  Cushite  origin  of  the  Phoenicians  is  shown  no  less 
distinctly  by  the  architectural  remains  of  their  oldest  cities. 
In  every  country  and  on  every  shore,  where  the  old  Cush- 
ite settlements  are  traced,  are  found  the  remains  of  vast 


142  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

constructions  that  astonish  and  perplex  beholders.  They 
are  found  in  Egpyt,  Nubia,  Arabia,  India,  Greece,  Italy, 
Great  Britain,  and  Phoenicia.  In  Chaldea,  where  there  was 
no  stone,  there  were  immense  structures  of  brick.  The 
stone-work  shown  by  some  of  these  constructions  is  amaz- 
ing, and  nowhere  more  so  than  in  Syria  and  Phoenicia. 
Since  Maundrell  published  the  record  of  his  travels  and 
observations,  we  have  been  familiar  with  this  peculiarity 
in  the  ruins  of  Balbec.  One  particular  in  the  description 
of  these  ruins  is  that,  at  one  place  in  a  remaining  Avail, 
twenty  feet  above  the  ground,  three  vast  blocks  of  stone, 
twelve  feet  deep  and  twelve  feet  wide,  and  each  more  than 
sixty  feet  long,  are  seen  lying  end  to  end.  The  hand  of 
old  Cushite  architects  is  seen  in  the  wondrous  rock  con- 
structions of  Petra,  and  it  is  visible  in  the  ruins  of  ancient 
Phoenician  cities  that  have  been  explored. 

For  instance,  at  Ruad,  the  Arvad  of  Genesis,  known  in 
remote  Cushite  times  as  Arad,  the  French  explorers  found 
the  ancient  wall  that  encircled  the  island  city.  It  was 
constructed  of  immense  blocks  of  stone,  nearly  eleven  feet 
square  and  fifteen  or  sixteen  long.  The  beautiful  antique 
reservoirs,  hewn  out  of  the  rock,  are  still  used  by  the  peo- 
ple of  Ruad.  The  report  in  the  "  Mission  do  Phoenicia" 
says  :  "The  wall  is  a  work  of  the  old  city,  without  doubt, 
ancjp  work  truly  Phoenician.  Nowhere  more  than  at  Ruad 
is  one  impressed  by  those  gigantic  rock-works  which  con- 
stitute a  dominant  trait  of  Phoenica  and  Palestine."  Ruad 
is  an  island  very  near  the  Syrian  coast.  On  the  main  land 
opposite,  and  intimately  connected  with  it,  were  five  other 
cities  —  Paltus,  Balanea,  Carne,  Enhydra,  and  Marathos, 
the  "  daughters  of  Arvad" — whose  ruins  exist.  Probably 
there  were  others.  The  French  explorers  say :  "  The  grand 


Chaldean  Inscriptions  on  Martu.  143 

totality  of  what  may  be  called  the  Arvadite  civilization  is 
represented  in  our  day  by  a  vast  mass  of  ruins,  which  cover 
the  coast  on  a  continuous  line  of  three  or  four  leagues. 
Carne,  Antaradus,  Enhydra,  and  Marathos  must  have  near- 
ly touched  each  other,  it  being  now  very  difficult  to  say 
where  one  began  or  another  ended.  Marathos  alone,  among 
these  centres  of  population,  had  an  individuality  distinct 
from  the  insular  city."  Antaradus,  built  on  the  ruins  of 
an  older  city,  was  comparatively  modern,  not  being  older 
than  the  Roman  period.  It  was  not  mentioned  by  Strabo, 
and  appears  first  in  the  geography  of  Ptolemy. 

Marathos  was  more  ancient  than  Arvad,  and  seems  to 
have  had  a  great  history  of  its  own  before  Arvad  and  "  the 
daughters  of  Arvad"  appeared,  or,  at  least,  before  the  insu- 
lar city  became  important.  In  the  more  ancient  Chaldean 
inscriptions  there  is  frequent  mention  of  a  region  on  the 
eastern  shore  of  the  Mediterranean  called  Martu.  It  is 
usually  understood  to  mean  Phoenicia.*  Was  Martu  an 
ancient  Cushite  name  of  the  Phoenician  city  called  Mara- 
thos by  the  Greeks,  and  now,  in  its  ruins,  known  as  Mrith 
or  Amrit  ?  and  was  this  city,  older  in  importance  certainly 
than  Sidon,  sufficiently  great  and  powerful,  at  some  period 
of  its  history,  to  give  its  name  to  that  region  ?  These 
questions  must  be  answered  in  the  affirmative. 

*  A  note  to  George  Rawlinson's  Essay  on  the  Phoenicians  says  :  "  Mar- 
tu was  probably  the  original  form  of  Marathos,  and  is  the  ordinary  term 
in  the  early  Cushite  or  Hamitic  Babylonian  for  'the West,'  and  is  espe- 
cially used  of  Phoenicia  and  the  Mediterranean."  Sir  Henry  Bawlinson 
finds  the  name  in  the  oldest  inscriptions  at  Ur,  in  connection  with  one  of 
the  most  primitive  kings,  and  says:  "It  was  applied  by  the  primitive 
Ilamitic  Chaldeans  to  Phoenicia."  This  makes  Phoenicia  as  old  as  Chal- 
dea,  and  effectually  disposes  of  the  theory  that  the  Phoenicians  were  Se- 
mites, and  first  appeared  as  a  people  in  the  thirteenth  century  before  Christ. 


14-i  Pre-Historio  Nations. 

3Irith  or  Marathos  "is  the  central  point  of  a  field  of 
ruins  nearly  a  league  square."  In  the  thirteenth  century 
these  ruins  were  visited  by  the  Dominican  Brocard,  who 
used  the  strongest  terms  of  admiration  in  speaking  of 
"  those  pyramids  of  surprising  grandeur,  constructed  of 
blocks  of  stone  from  twenty-six  to  twenty-eight  feet  long, 
whose  thickness  exceeded  the  stature  of  a  tall  man."  Six 
hundred  years  can  work  great  changes  even  in  ruins,  but 
these  are  still  very  remarkable.  The  city  was  built  partly 
on  a  plain  and  partly  on  a  chain  of  rocky  hills.  Some  of 
the  most  important  monuments  of  its  ancient  greatness  are 
the  remains  of  structures  hewn  out  of  these  rocks. 

In  Kenan's  report  on  the  ruins  of  Marathos  there  is  some 
account  of  an  edifice  called  "  el  Maabed,"  the  Temple,  which 
shows  "  a  vast  court,  156  feet  wide  and  about  180  feet  long, 
scooped  out  of  the  rock  in  such  a  manner  as  to  be  level 
with  the  soil  of  the  valley."  Wonderful  traces  of  skill  in 
rock-sculpture  appear  in  the  finish  and  appurtenances  of 
this  temple.  "The  aspect  is  Egyptian,  with  something 
original."  Another  structure,  named  "  Burdj-el-Bezzak," 
now  a  retreat  for  brigands,  he  describes  as  a  mausoleum 
of  enormous  dimensions,  and  says :  "  This  is  the  most  con- 
siderable and  best-preserved  building  of  ancient  Phrcnicia 
still  existing.  It  was  constructed  of  immense  blocks  of 
stone,  and  was  formerly  crowned  with  a  pyramid,  of  which 
we  found  nearly  all  the  materials."  Another  structure, 
hewn  out  of  the  rock,  he  describes  as  "  an  immense  stadi- 
um, about  738  feet  long  by  about  100  feet  wide.  Ten  rows 
of  seats  surrounded  the  arena,  and  the  stadium  terminated 
in  a  circular  amphitheatre,  from  which  two  parallel  pas- 
sages communicated  with  the  outside,  probably  to  let  in 
the  chariots  and  horses." 


The  Phoenicians  very  Ancient.  145 

Other  remains  of  rock-sculpture  and  Cyclopean  building 
were  noted  at  Marathos ;  and  so  it  is  throughout  Phoenicia. 
The  Cushite  origin  of  these  cities  is  so  plain,  that  those 
most  influenced  by  the  strange  monomania  which  trans- 
forms the  Phoenicians  into  Semites  now  admit  that  the 
Cushites  were  the  first  civilizers  and  builders  in  Phoenicia. 
Those  old  builders,  whose  sculpture  produced  such  aston- 
ishing effects  in  coarse  rock,  resorted  to  wood  and  metal  for 
the  finish  and  ornamentation  of  their  work.  The  stone 
they  used  was  not  Parian  marble,  therefore  they  covered 
it  with  ornaments  of  another  material ;  and  "  what  remains 
of  their  monuments  is  not  the  monument  itself,  but  the 
gross  support  that  served  to  bear  the  whole  system  of  dec- 
oration under  which  the  stone  was  concealed." 

ANTIQUITY   OF  THE   PHOENICIANS. 

The  doubts  and  perplexities  that  have  troubled  inquiry 
concerning  the  Phoenicians  are  due  chiefly  to  the  influence 
of  chronological  dogmatism.  Investigators  have  created 
most  of  them  by  assuming  that  the  commonly  accepted 
scheme  of  Ancient  History  must  not  be  disturbed.  To  ex- 
plain the  facts  presented  for  consideration,  we  must  disre- 
gard this  influence,  and  be  entirely  free  to  admit  any  con- 
clusion that  shall  seem  necessary.  The  great  antiquity  of 
the  people  called  Phoenicians  was  acknowledged  by  the 
ancients.  Herodotus,  evidently,  did  not  suppose  it  could 
be  denied.  Josephus,  while  pointing  out  that  "  almost  all 
which  concerns  the  Greeks  happened  not  long  ago,"  men- 
tions as  a  fact  generally  understood  that  the  antiquity  of 
the  Phoenicians  was  as  great  as  that  of  the  Chaldeans  and 
Egyptians.  He  says,  writing  against  Apion :  The  Greeks 
acknowledge  "that  they  were  the  Egyptians,  the  Chal- 

G 


146  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

deans,  and  the  Phoenicians,  who  preserved  the  memorial? 
of  the  most  ancient  and  most  lasting  traditions  of  man- 
kind." 

In  the  tenth  chapter  of  Genesis,  the  Hebrew  belief  in  the 
antiquity  of  the  Canaanites  (called  Phoenicians)  is  shown 
by  the  statement  that  Canaan,  Cush,  Misraim,  and  Phut 
were  brothers.  These  names  are  made  to  represent  the  be- 
ginnings of  the  several  branches  of  the  Karaite  race.  This 
important  chapter,  which  preserves  the  earliest  ethnological 
traditions  of  the  Hebrews,  is,  in  a  geographical  and  ethnical 
point  of  view,  of  great  value.  George  Rawlinson,  while  as- 
signing his  imagined  Semitic  Phoenicians  to  a  comparative- 
ly modern  period,  can  not  deny  that  civilized  Phoenicia  it- 
self was  very  ancient.  He  says,  in  his  Herodotus,  vol.  iv., 
p.  245  •  "  Hamitic  races  seem  to  have  been  the  first  to  peo- 
ple Western  Asia,  whether  starting  from  Egypt  or  from 
Babylonia  it  is  impossible  to  determine.  These  Haniitcs 
were  the  original  founders  of  most  of  the  towns,  which 
sometimes  retained  their  primitive  names,  sometimes  ex- 
changed them  for  Semitic  appellations."  This  admission, 
however,  really  yields  the  whole  question,  and  overthrows 
the  chronology  he  desires  to  save. 

The  arrival  of  the  Israelites  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  from 
Egypt,  is  usually  placed  in  the  fifteenth  century  before  the 
Christian  Era.  At  that  time  the  Phoenician  cities  were 
very  old.  Some  of  them  had  declined.  Arad  or  Arvad 
had  superseded  Martu  or  Marathus.  Many  ages  had  gone 
by  since  Joppa  or  lopia  was  a  royal  city.  The  great  days 
of  Phoenician  dominion  in  that  part  of  Asia  h:nl  departed. 
It  does  not  appear  that  any  great  city  was  built  in  Phoeni- 
cia after  this  date ;  some  of  the  old  cities  may  have  had 
new  extensions,  but  no  new  city  was  founded.  From  that 


Scheme  of  Phoenician  History. 

time  onward  the  history  of  Phoenicia  was  the  history,  not 
of  young  vigor  and  rising  greatness,  but  of  development 
already  mature  and  of  progress  towards  decline.  And  yet 
Mr.  Rawlinson  makes  his  Semitic  Phoenicians  begin  their 
residence  there  in  the  thirteenth  century  before  Christ — 
two  centuries  later  than  the  Israelites!  To  speak  very 
moderately,  and  as  respectfully  as  possible,  this  astonishing 
hypothesis  is  unreasonable. 

THE   PERIODS    OF   PHOENICIAN   HISTORY. 

There  are  some  dates  and  facts  which  constrain  us  to  be- 
lieve that  the  Phoenician  settlements  and  cities,  on  the  east- 
ern shore  of  the  Mediterranean,  were  quite  as  old  as  Egypt. 
Herodotus  gives  us  the  age  of  Tyre,  one  of  the  latest  of 
those  cities ;  and  it  is  clear  that  cities  much  more  ancient 
than  Sidon  were  the  earlier  seats  of  the  commerce  and  pow- 
er of  that  people,  such  as  Joppa  or  lopia,  Berytus  or  Berut, 
Byblius  or  Gebal,  and  Marathos  or  Martu.  The  history 
of  the  people  called  Phoenicians  can  be  divided  into  four 
great  periods  ;*  and  the  first  of  these  periods,  as  described 
in  the  "Allgemeine  Encyklopadie,"  may  be  subdivided 
into  three  or  more.  The  elaborate  and  learned  article  on 
the  Phoenicians,  published  in  that  great  work,  arranges 
Phoenician  history  as  follows  :  1.  The  ante-Sidonian  period, 
or  the  time  previous  to  the  rise  of  Sidon  to  supremacy ;  2. 
The  period  of  Sidon ;  3.  The  period  during  which  Tyre 
was  the  ruling  city ;  4.  The  period  of  the  Assyrian,  Baby- 
lonia, Egyptian,  and  Persian  invasions,  to  the  final  decline 
of  Phoenicia.  The  first,  second,  and  third  of  these  periods 
are  greatly  crowded  and  confused  by  the  writer's  deference 

*  See  the  "Allgemeine  Encyklopadie,"  article  "Phoenizien,"  p.  333- 
340. 


148  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

to  the  popular  chronology ;  and,  in  other  respects,  the  arti- 
cle is  more  valuable  for  the  learning  it  shows  than  for  clear 
views  and  just  conclusions ;  but  the  division  adopted  is  ob- 
vious and  useful.  In  using  this  natural  arrangement  of 
the  history,  I  shall  divide  the  first  period  into  three,  and 
the  fourth  I  shall  describe  as  the  Carthaginian  period. 

1.  The  ante-Sidonian  period.  This  period  begins  with 
the  first  commercial  settlements  of  the  Hamitic  or  Cushite 
people  on  that  part  of  the  Mediterranean  coast — witli  the 
time  when  the  Arabian  Cushitcs  began  to  occupy  that  coast 
for  maritime  purposes.  That  this  time  was  in  very  remote 
antiquity  is  made  manifest  by  the  uniform  testimony  of  lin- 
guistic and  archaBological  investigation,  which  shows  that 
the  Cushites  preceded  the  other  races  in  that  part  of  Asia, 
and  were  the  first  to  establish  civilization  there.  Accord- 
ing to  an  old  tradition,  the  first  cities  built  were  Gebal  or 
Gebeil,  which  the  Greeks  called  Byblus,  and  Berut,  or  Be- 
rytus  as  the  Greeks  made  it,  now  called  Beyrut ;  but  oth- 
ers may  have  been  older. 

The  time  previous  to  the  supremacy  of  Sidon  must  have 
been  divided  by  events  into  several  distinct  historical  pe- 
riods. 1.  There  was  a  time  when  Kepheus,  king  of  Ethio- 
pia, reigned  at  Joppa,  and  his  kingdom  is  described  as  ex- 
tending from  the  Mediterranean  to  the  Indian  Ocean.  Phoe- 
nicia or  Canaan  was  then  an  integral  part  of  the  great  king- 
dom of  the  Arabian  Cushites ;  but  we  cannot  suppose  the 
time  of  Kepheus  to  have  been  during  the  first  ages  of  the 
maritime  settlements  in  that  district.  2.  There  was  a  time 
when  Berut  or  Berytus,  with  its  Poseidon  and  Cabiri  wor- 
ship, was  the  great  city,  and  the  principal  starting-point 
for  commercial  and  colonial  enterprise.  The  earliest  col- 
onists may  have  gone  forth  from  this  city.  Poseidon-wor- 


Antiquity  of  Maratkos.  149 

ship  seems  to  have  been  a  peculiarity  of  all  the  colonies 
previous  to  the  time  of  Sidon.  3.  There  was  a  time  when 
Martu  or  Marathos  was  the  metropolitan  city,  and  gave  its 
name  to  the  whole  region. 

"The  ruins  of  Marathos  show  it  to  have  been  a  city  of 
great  importance.  Diodorus  Siculus  describes  it  as  a  city 
celebrated  for  the  religious  objects  guarded  in  its  sanctu- 
aries. It  is  mentioned  in  the  older  Chaldean  inscriptions, 
which  shows  its  great  antiquity.  Like  Byblus  and  Bery- 
tus,  it  had  ceased  to  be  a  chief  city  long  before  the  time 
of  Joshua.*  It  was  then  secondary  to  the  later  island  city 
known  as  Arad  or  Arvad,  which,  however,  may  have  been 
as  old  as  Sidon.  Arad,  which  inherited  the  political  and 
commercial  importance  of  Marathos,  may  have  been  older 
than  Sidon,  to  which  it  finally  became  secondary.  The 
Arvadites  are  prominently  mentioned  in  the  tenth  chapter 
of  Genesis,  and  Arvad  had  evidently  been  a  chief  city  for 
a  long  time  when  that  chapter  was  written  or  compiled. 

2.  The  period  of  Sidon.  There  is  no  record  to  tell  us 
when  this  period  began.  It  belongs  to  the  time  when  the 
Phoenician  cities,  with  their  many  colonies  on  the  islands 
and  shores  of  the  Mediterranean,  had  become  a  separate 

*  There  are  indications  that  Marathos  was  one  of  the  most  primeval 
cities  of  Phoenicia,  and  that  the  Marathos  whose  ruins  now  exist  was  a 
new  city,  built  near  the  site  of  an  older  Marathos.  This  new  city  was  al- 
ready a  mass  of  ruins  in  Strabo's  time.  The  French  explorers  say  its 
structures  were  much  older  than  the  Greek  epoch,  and  yet  they  found  in 
them  materials  taken  from  remains  of  older  structures  that  had  become 
ruins  before  they  were  built.  Throughout  the  vast  walls  of  the  building 
called  Burj-el-Bezzak,  blocks  of  stone  were  found,  evidently  taken  from 
the  ruins  of  more  ancient  structures.  Dr.  Gaillardot,  of  the  French  ex- 
ploring party,  in  the  "Mission  de  Phoenicie,"  discusses  the  evidence  ^f 
this  fact  at  length,  and  shows  it  to  be  conclusive. 


150  P  re-Historic  Nations. 

and  independent  dominion.  This  separation,  which  AV:IS 
probably  more  political  than  commercial,  may  have  com- 
menced when  Martu  or  Marathos  was  the  great  city,  and 
when  the  ancient  Chaldean  inscriptions  described  that 
whole  region  as  Martu.  In  Homer,  Tyre  is  not  named,  but 
Sidon  and  the  Sidonians  are  mentioned  in  such  a  way  as 
to  make  two  facts  apparent — first,  that,  in  ages  previous  to 
his  time, "  the  great  Sidon"  had  been  the  ruling  city  ;  and, 
second,  that  the  cities  in  Asia  Minor  and  around  the  ^Egean 
Sea  had  recognised  its  controlling  influence.  Kenrick  says 
very  justly:  "This  exclusive  mention  of  Sidon  cannot  rep- 
resent the  actual  state  of  things  when  the  poet  wrote,  for 
in  that  age  Tyre  had  already  assumed  the  ascendency ;  but 
it  indicates  his  traditional  knowledge  of  the  time  when  the 
power  of  Phoenicia  centred  in  Sidon,  and  Tyre  was  insig- 
nificant."* 

Movers,  shackled  by  submissive  reverence  for  the  popu- 
lar chronology,  suggests  that  the  supremacy  of  Sidon  may 
have  begun  about  the  year  1500  B.C.  At  that  date  it  w;is 
already  in  a  state  of  decline.  It  must  have  begun  more 
than  a  thousand  years  earlier.  We  know  from  the  Hebrew 
Scriptures  that,  in  the  fifteenth  century  before  the  Christian 
Era, "  the  great  Sidon"  was  already  a  very  ancient  city. 
Its  greatness  was  mature  and  old ;  its  origin  was  hidden 
from  the  Israelites  in  the  mist  of  remote  ages ;  and  they 
spoke  of  it  as  one  of  the  earliest  cities  of  the  land.  The 
Hebrew  writers  could  not  have  spoken  of  Sidon  in  this 
way  if  at  that  time  its  days  of  great  power  and  influence 
had  just  begun. 

It  is  possible  that  the  cities  of  Asia  Minor  were  sepa- 
rated from  Phoenician  control  during  the  period  of  Sidonian 
*  See  Kenrick's  "  Phoenicia,"  page  311. 


The  Greeks  around  the  ^Egean.  151 

sway,  but  there  is  nothing  to  suggest  the  date  of  this  sepa- 
ration beyond  the  fact  that,  after  this  period,  Phoenician 
enterprise  and  influence  went  chiefly  in  other  directions, 
while  throughout  that  region,  and  on  both  sides  of  the 
.Jilgean,  grew  up  an  independent  political  organization  of 
the  Pelasgians,  old  acquaintances  of  the  Phoenicians.  This 
was  folio  wed  by  subsequent  organizations  of  other  peoples, 
of  the  same  race  doubtless,  until,  in  the  eleventh  century 
before  Christ,  we  may  suppose  the  famed  Ionian  confeder- 
acy came  into  existence.*  Sidon,  whose  importance  had 
depended  largely  on  its  power  and  commercial  sway  in  this 
part  of  the  Mediterranean  world,  very  naturally  began  to 
decline  under  the  influence  of  these  changes  several  centu- 
ries previous  to  the  year  1500  B.C. 

3.  The  period  of  Tyrian  supremacy.  Herodotus  informs 
us  that  Tyre  was  founded  about  2760  years  before  the 
Christian  Era.  He  learned  at  Tyre  that  the  city  was  found- 
ed 2300  years  previous  to  the  time  of  his  visit  there.  This 
date,  taken  from  the  annals  of  the  city,  is  just  as  authentic 

*  Ernst  Curtius,  in  his  "Die  lonier  vor  der  lonischen  Wanderung," 
shows  that  the  lonians  and  other  Greeks  previous  to  this  time  dwelt  chief- 
^y  in  Asia  Minor.  When  Ionia  was  created,  many  of  those  who  had  passed 
over  into  Greece  returned  to  Asia.  This  is  all  there  is  to  excuse  the  ab- 
surd representation  of  Hellenic  egotism  that  the  cities  of  Asia  Minor  were 
colonies  established  by  emigration  from  Hellas,  which  was  politically  a 
much  younger  country.  In  concluding  his  essay,  Curtius  says : 

"  In  Asien  sahen  wir  die  Griechen  von  der  phrygischen  Nation  sich  ab- 
lijsen  als  ein  besonderes  Volk ;  in  Asien  sesshaft,  bilden  sie  aus,  was  an 
Sprache  und  Sitte  als  der  gemeinsame  Typus  des  Hellenischen  anerkannt 
werden  muss.  Sie  gliedern  sich  in  zwei  Hauptstamme ;  aus  dieser  Glei- 
derung  wird  eine  Spaltung ;  der  eine  der  Stamme  bleibt  in  Asien  und  be- 
setzt  die  ganze  Westkiiste,  der  andere  wandert  aus  durch  Thracien  und 
Macedonien." 


152  Pre-JIistoric  Nations. 

as  any  other  historical  date.  It  excited  in  Herodotus  nei- 
ther doubt  nor  surprise.  It  implies  more  past  time  than 
the  chronologies  of  modern  times  can  afford ;  therefore 
some  attempts  have  been  made  to  bring  it  into  discredit, 
but  without  any  show  of  good  reason,  and  without  success. 
When  we  fairly  consider  what  is  known  of  the  history  of 
Tyre,  the  date  given  by  Herodotus  appears  not  only  rea- 
sonable, but  even  moderate.  As  known  to  us  in  history,  it 
consisted  of  an  ancient  town  on  the  main  land,  called  Pa- 
lae-Tyrus,  or  Old  Tyre,  and  a  later  city,  or  extension  of  the 
city,  built  on  an  island  very  near  the  shore,  called  New 
Tyre.  Herodotus,  after  careful  inquiry,  recorded  the  age  of 
the  old  city.  Those  who  would  discredit  the  date  he  gives 
put  entirely  out  of  view  the  building  of  the  ancient  city  on 
the  main  laud,  and  begin  the  existence  of  Tyre  with  the 
building  of  the  new  city.  According  to  Josephus,  the  in- 
sular city,  or  New  Tyre  (for  it  was  to  this  he  referred),  was 
240  years  older  than  Solomon's  Temple ;  that  is  to  say,  it 
was  built  in  the  thirteenth  century  before  Christ.  Two 
hundred  years  earlier,  when  the  Israelites  settled  in  Cana- 
an, the  old  city,  described  by  them  as  "  the  strong  city, 
Tyre,"  had  evidently  existed  for  ages.  There  is  nothing 
extravagant,  nothing  improbable,  nothing  that  should  be 
doubted,  in  the  explicit  statement  of  Herodotus  that  its 
first,  foundations  were  laid  about  2760  B.C. 

Tyre  was  built  by  a  colony  from  Sidon.  When  it  grew 
to  be  important,  its  enterprise  seems  to  have  been  directed 
chiefly  towards  the  west,  and  to  countries  that  could  be 
reached  by  sailing  down  the  Red  Sea.  It  established  close 
relations  with  Spain,  and  with  the  northern  and  western 
coasts  of  Africa,  where  the  Arabian  Cushites  established 
colonies  and  civilization  in  the  earlier  periods  of  their  his- 


The  Greatness  of  Tyre.  153 

tory  on  the  Mediterranean,  probably  as  early  as  the  time 
when  Byblus  and  Berut  were  the  chief  cities.  Those  early 
communities,  which  in  Northwestern  Africa  and  Spain 
may  have  been  as  old  as  Egypt,  grew  to  be  important  na- 
tions, as  appears  in  the  myths,  became  independent,  and  as- 
sumed control  of  their  own  commerce.  After  a  long  his- 
tory, indicated  by  the  myths,  they  must  have  declined 
greatly,  for  Tyre  was  able  to  resume,  in  those  regions,  the 
occupation  and  influence  which  the  Cushite  cities  on  the 
Mediterranean  had  lost  many  ages  earlier.  The  Tyrians 
secured  complete  possession  of  all  those  countries,  and  went 
beyond  them — to  Britain  for  tin,  and  to  regions  near  the 
Baltic  for  amber. 

Without  being  able  to  determine  precisely  when  Tyre 
became  the  ruling  city,  we  can  see  that  it  had  reached  this 
condition  previous  to  the  Hebrew  times.  Its  greatest  em- 
inence is  apparent  in  the  biblical  history  of  David  and  Sol- 
omon. With  an  admirable  degree  of  enlightened  civiliza- 
tion, with  marvelous  skill  in  manufactures,  mining,  and 
commerce,  and  with  a  range  of  traffic  that  included  most 
of  the  known  world,  the  Tyrians  became  a  mighty,  renown- 
ed, an<r  magnificent  people,  such  as  history  found  them — 
such  as  we  can  see  so  distinctly  through  the  lurid  storm 
of  prophetic  denunciation  poured  forth  in  the  27th  chapter 
of  Ezekiel. 

The  Tyrians  built  Carthage  on  the  site  of  an  older  town 
which  had  more  than  once  been  renewed.  A  statement  of 
Philistus  the  Sicilian,  preserved  by  Eusebius,  says  it  was 
founded  "  by  the  Tyrians,  Zorus  and  Carchedon,  fifty  years 
before  the  Trojan  war."  This  makes  it  as  old  as  New  Tyre. 
It  is  usual  to  assign  a  later  date,  but  not  with  much  cer- 
tainty. It  is  probable  that  the  sites  of  both  Carthage  and 

G2 


154  Pro-Historic  Nations. 

Utica  were  occupied  by  the  people  called  Phoenicians  at  a 
very  early  period,  and  that  the  reports  of  their  having  been 
built  at  various  dates,  in  later  times,  refer  only  to  subse- 
quent enlargements  of  the  old  towns  by  which  they  be- 
came important  cities. 

4.  The  Period  of  Carthage.  The  decline  of  Tyrian  su- 
premacy began  with  those  rapacious  invasions  of  the  As- 
syrians, Egyptians,  Babylonians,  and,  finally,  the  Persians, 
which  troubled  its  Asiatic  commerce,  and  at  last  destroyed 
its  independence.  On  the  commencement  of  these  troub- 
les, many  of  its  wealthiest  and  most  enterprising  citizens 
removed  to  Carthage;  and  this  important  migration  may 
have  given  rise  to  the  common  representation  that  Car- 
thage was  built  about  813  B.C. 

After  this  time  the  old  security  and  importance  of  Phoe- 
nicia disappeared.  The  country  was  repeatedly  ravaged 
and  subjugated  by  invading  armies  of  the  great  powers  of 
inner  Asia.  The  ancient  condition  of  Phoenician  greatness, 
no  longer  possible  on  that  coast,  was  henceforth  represent- 
ed by  Carthage,  which  succeeded  Tyre  in  the  supremacy 
over  Northern  Africa  and  Spain,  and  became  one  of  the 
most  celebrated  cities  of  its  time.  The  period  of%s  su- 
premacy lasted  about  500  years,  and  was  terminated  vio- 
lently by  the  Romans,  who,  after  a  long  and  malignant 
warfare,  overthrew  its  power  and  destroyed  the  city. 

Carthage  had  over  700,000  inhabitants  even  at  the  time 
of  its  destruction.  Its  vigor  had  not  declined ;  for  more 
than  a  thousand  years  longer  it  might  have  played  as  grand 
a  part  in  the  Mediterranean  world  as  the  greatest  of  its 
predecessors,  if  Rome  had  not  risen  to  become  its  rival. 
But  the  great  career  of  the  Cushite  race  was  finished. 
Carthage  was  the  last  representative  of  its  enterprising 


The  Date  of  Phoenician  Colonies.  155 

civilization.  The  time  had  come  when  peoples  of  the  Ary- 
an race  were  to  stand  foremost  in  civilization  and  power, 
possess  the  world,  and  make  its  history.  They  can  be 
great  enough  to  see  clearly,  and  with  becoming  admiration, 
what  they  have  inherited  from  their  Cushite  predecessors. 

Ernst  Curtius  suggests  that  the  order  in  time  of  the 
many  Phoenician  colonies  around  the  Mediterranean  may 
"be  traced  in  the  particular  form  of  religious  worship  estab- 
lished by  the  first  settlers.  The  colonies  of  Sidon  carried 
with  them  the  worship  of  Astarte,  while  those  of  Tyre  were 
distinguished  by  the  worship  of  Melcarth  or  Hercules. 
This  guidance  is  not  sure ;  but  we  may  add  to  his  sugges- 
tion that  the  ante-Sidonian  period  can  be  traced  in  the  col- 
onies by  the  worship  of  Poseidon  and  the  Cabiri.  Bery- 
tus,  which,  according  to  all  tradition,  was  the  earliest  met- 
ropolitan city,  was  the  chief  seat  of  this  worship ;  and  we 
find  that  it  was  carried  to  Spain  and  to  Northern  Africa, 
but  most  abundantly  to  Italy,  to  many  of  the  islands,  and 
to  the  regions  around  the  -ZEgean  Sea.  In  Thrace,  Posei- 
don, and  also  the  Cabiri,  were  worshipped  in  the  earliest 
times. 

The  mysterious  Cabiri,  called  sons  of  Sydyk  the  Just,  and 
also  sons  of  Vulcan,  were  peculiarly  Phoenician,  or  more 
probably  Arabian ;  but  their  worship,  as  well  as  that  of  Po- 
seidon, belonged  to  the  more  ancient  period  of  Phoenician 
or  Cushite  civilization,  the  Cabiri  being  divinities  that  pre- 
sided over  navigation,  metallurgy,  and  mining.  Traces  of 
the  worship  of  Hercules,  nowhere  wanting,  are  most  abun- 
dant in  the  western  regions  on  the  Mediterranean  and  be- 
yond the  Straits  of  Gibraltar,  where  it  was  established  in 
times  far  more  ancient  than  either  the  Tyrian  or  the  Sido- 
nian  period. 


156  Pre-IIixtoric  Nations. 


THE    BUILDING    OF   GADES. 

The  city  of  Gades  seems  to  have  been  founded  by  the 
Tynans  about  1100  years  before  the  Christian  Era,  in  pur- 
suance of  measures  they  had  taken  to  occupy  the  country 
which  had  long  been  politically  separated  from  the  Phoe- 
nician cities,  although  commercially  connected  with  them. 
We  are  told  that  their  aim  was  to  establish  themselves  in 
the  most  western  region  occupied  by  Hercules.  That  is  to 
say,  they  sought  to  regain  a  country  which,  in  the  most 
ancient  times,  had  belonged  to  the  ancestors  of  their  coun- 
trymen. This  reference  to  Hercules  distinctly  recognises 
that  early  occupation  of  Spain  and  Northwestern  Africa 
by  the  Arabian  Cushites,  which  to  the  Tyrians  themselves 
must  have  seemed  very  ancient. 

Gades  was  built  near  the  old  city  of  Erythia,  famed  in 
the  myths  in  connection  with  Hercules  and  Geryon ;  and 
north  of  it,  on  an  island  at  the  mouth  of  the  Tartessus,  now 
the  Guadalquiver,  was  the  equally  ancient  city  of  Tartes- 
sus, which  no  longer  existed  in  the  time  of  Strabo,  for  he 
says :  "  They  say  that  on  the  piece  of  land  inclosed  between 
the  two  outlets  of  this  river  there .  formerly  stood  a  city 
named,  like  the  river,  Tartessus."  When  Gades  was  built 
Spain  had  long  been  an  old  country,  full  of  old  cities,  and 
rich  in  the  monuments  of  an  old  civilization,  then  probably, 
like  the  political  condition  of  the'country,  in  a  state  of  de- 
cline. 

Before  the  time  of  Gades,  not  only  the  colonizing  enter- 
prises and  other  great  events  signified  by  the  legends  con- 
cerning the  Cushite  Melcarth  or  Hercules,  but  also  many 
subsequent  ages  of  the  Cushite  civilization  in  Spain,  had 
become  mythical.  The  Temple  of  Hercules,  at  Tyre,  was 


Gades  and  Tartessus.  157 

then  nearly  1700  years  old  when  Gades  was  built,  while  in 
the  myths  of  both  Phoenicia  and  Egypt  he  was  much  old- 
er. One  of  the  first  edifices  built  at  Gades  by  the  Tyrians 
was  the  Temple  of  Hercules.  Before  going  to  the  island 
on  which  Gades  was  founded,  they  sought  a  location  for 
their  city  on  another  island,  nearer  the  straits,  which,  from 
time  immemorial,  had  been  consecrated  to  Hercules.  The 
whole  region  was  filled  with  memorials  of  the  ancient 
Cushite  influence  that  gave  it  civilization.  We  can  see  all 
this  in  the  old  records  and  myths  of  the  Greeks ;  and  yet 
some  writers  have  blindly  assumed  that  the  first  colonizing 
settlements  of  the  people  called  Phosnicians,  in  that  part 
of  Europe,  were  made  by  the  Tyrians.  This  denial  of  the 
past  is  due  mainly  to  that  besotted  influence  of  dogmatic 
chronology  which  has  done  so  much  to  obscure  antiquity. 
The  more  ancient  times  must  be  covered  with  darkness  and 
left  unseen,  because  its  scheme  of  human  history  cannot 
afford  to  recognise  them.  This  chronological  infatuation  is 
not  respectable ;  no  deferential  forbearance  or  compliance 
of  eminent  scholars  can  make  it  so. 

Strabo  said  of  Gades,  "  Its  inhabitants  equip  the  greatest 
number  of  ships,  and  the  largest  in  size,  both  for  our  sea 
and  the  exterior  ocean."  The  best  materials  for  ship-build- 
ing appear  to  have  been  very  abundant  in  that  part  of 
Spam.  Gades,  and  Tartessus  at  the  mouth  of  Guadalquiv- 
er,  were  probably  noted  for  their  naval  constructions,  and 
especially  for  the  construction  of  large  ships  suitable  for 
use  on  the  great  "  exterior  ocean."  If  we  suppose  Tartes- 
sus to  have  been  the  Tarshish  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  may 
we  not  find  in  the  great  ships  for  which  that  locality  was 
famous  an  explanation  of  what  was  meant  by  the  celebrated 
"  ships  of  Tarshish  ?"  Some  of  the  ancients  placed  the 


158  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

"  Pillars  of  Hercules"  near  Gades,  identifying  them  with  the 
"  Gates  of  Gades ;"  by  others  they  were  placed  as  far  north 
as  the  entrance  to  the  Baltic.  These  mythical  pillars  were 
supposed  to  be  columns  set  up  by  Hercules  to  mark  the 
most  western  point  reached  by  his  expedition;  and  the 
Tyrians,  it  is  said,  went  forth  to  find  them  when  they  sought 
a  location  for  their  new  city  in  the  west.  El  Mas'sudi 
ppeaks  of  these  columns  as  "  the  idols  of  copper." 

EXTENT   OF   PHOENICIAN   INFLUENCE. 

In  presence  of  the  manifold  traces  of  their  influence,  and 
of  the  uniform  testimony  of  tradition,  it  could  not  be  denied, 
with  any  show  of  reason,  that  the  Arabian  Cushites,  called 
Phoenicians,  were  the  first  civilizers  not  only  in  Western 
Asia,  but  in  Thrace,  in  Thessaly  and  Epirus,  in  the  Grecian 
Peninsula,  in  the  Mediterranean  Islands,  throughout  South- 
ern Europe,  and  in  Northern  Africa.  In  all  these  regions 
the  Phoenicians  are  apparent  in  the  oldest  architectural  re- 
mains, the  earliest  culture  and  modes  of  writing,  and  the 
methods  of  political  organization.  Such  antiquities  as  the 
Cyclopean  structures  at  Mycena3  and  Tiryns,  and  those  in 
Calabria  and  Sicily,  show  at  once  their  origin.  Scarcely  an 
alphabet  has  been  known,  during  the  historical  period,  that 
did  not  arise  from  that  of  the  Pho3nicians.  But,  if  there 
were  no  other  evidence,  a  controlling  Phoenician  influence, 
at  the  beginning  of  civilization  around  the  Mediterranean, 
could  be  inferred  from  the  Phoenician  or  Arabian  method 
of  political  organization  everywhere  prevalent — an  organi- 
zation in  which  everything  else  was  subordinate  to  separate 
municipalities,  completely  organized,  and  more  or  less  con- 
trolled by  popular  influence.  What  could  be  more  indubi- 
tably Phoenician  than  the  political  methods  of  the  Ionian 


The  Phoenicians  in  Scandinavia.  159 

confederacy,  of  Italy  in  early  times,  and  of  peninsular  Greece 
as  known  in  history  ? 

The  Phoenician  establishments  in  Scandinavia,  where  so 
many  traces  of  their  influence  are  found,  could  not  have 
been  later  than  the  early  part  of  the  Tyrian  period ;  and 
the  earliest  Cushite- Arabian  establishments  there  must  have 
been  much  older.  The  letters  and  literary  culture  of  the 
ancient  Scandinavians  were  incontestably  Phoenician.  It 
is  freely  admitted  that  the  Runic  letters  of  the  Norsemen, 
sixteen  in  number,  found  in  the  old  inscriptions  on  the  rocks 
and  stone  monuments  of  Denmark,  Norway,  Sweden,  and 
the  neighboring  districts  of  Germany,  and  used  in  Norse 
literature,  could  have  no  other  origin.  A  circular  of  the 
"  Royal  Society  of  Northern  Antiquaries,"  published  in  the 
Journal  of  the  Bombay  branch  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Socie- 
ty for  January  1842,  says:  "From  a  remote  antiquity 
commercial  relations  existed  between  Asia  and  the  north 
of  Europe.  Abundance  of  Cufic  coins,  and  other  matters, 
are  frequently  discovered  in  excavations,  which  lead  to  the 
inference  that  such  commercial  intercourse  had  no  unim- 
portant influence  on  the  north,  and  also  on  the  countries  by 
which  it  was  originated."  The  great  article  of  commerce 
in  Northwestern  Europe  was  amber. 

The  Phoenicians  can  be  traced  far  down  the  western  coast 
of  Africa,  where  it  is  well  known  they  had  cities  and  trading 
stations.  They  occupied  the  Canary  Islands,  and  left  there 
a  dialect  of  the  Cushite  tongue  closely  related  to  the  lan- 
guage of  the  Berbers,  which  may  indicate  that  their  settle- 
ments in  these  islands  were  older  than  the  period  when  the 
language  of  Phoenicia  is  said  to  have  been  Semitized. 
Traces  of  their  traffic  are  found  on  the  coast  of  Guinea. 
Some  suppose  that  "  sika,"  as  the  name  of  gold,  was  carried 


160  Pre-JIistoric  Nations. 

to  that  coast  by  the  Phoenicians.  Be  this  as  it  may,  the  re- 
markable "  Popoe  beads,"  found  there  in  the  soil,  are  evi- 
dently remains  of  their  wares.  Travelers  in  Western  Af- 
rica have  frequently  called  attention  to  these  "beads," 
which  are  mysterious  to  the  natives,  who  prize  them  be- 
yond gold,  and  which  no  manufacturing  skill  in  Europe  can 
imitate.  They  are  described  as  "  semi-mineral  beads  of 
many  kinds."  John  Duncan,  in  his  "  Travels  in  Western 
Africa,"  vol.  i.,  p.  106,  speaks  of  them  thus,  in  a  description 
of  Popoe,  and  of  "  the  famous  market-town  of  Gregapojec," 
three  and  a  half  miles  distant  from  Popoe :  "  The  Popoe 
beads  are  found  sometimes  in  digging  the  earth  in  and 
around  the  town.  They  are  generally  from  half  an  inch  to 
an  inch  in  length,  and  of  a  tubular  form,  much  resembling 
a  stout  pipe-handle  broken  into  small  pieces.  They  are  of 
a  light  red  coral  color.  I  believe  they  have  been  minutely 
examined  by  scientific  men  in  Europe,  but  the  result  has 
not  proved  satisfactory." 

The  only  reasonable  explanation  is,  that  those  wonderful 
manufacturers,  the  Phoenicians,  had  a  trading  station  at 
Popoe  in  remote  times,  where  they  trafficked  with  the  na- 
tives for  gold  and  ivory.  Urquhart,  in  his  "  Pillars  of  Her- 
cules," describes  articles  found  among  Phoenician  relics  in 
Morocco,  which,  he  says,  are  similar  to  those  dug  from  the 
earth  at  Popoe.  It  was  estimated  that  the  Phoenicians  had 
three  hundred  towns  and  cities  on  the  Atlantic  coast  of  Af- 
rica ;  and  Strabo  mentions  an  account  of  a  ship  from  Gade- 
ira,  or  Gades,  that  was  wrecked  on  the  eastern  coast  in  older 
times.  When  Necho,  king  of  Egypt,  as  Herodotus  relates, 
ordered  a  vessel  to  sail  round  Africa  and  return  to  Egypt 
through  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar,  he  knew  such  a  voyage 
was  possible.  Nothing  can  be  more  probable  than  the  ex- 


Ruins  in  Central  Asia.  161 

istencc  of  a  Phoenician  trading  station  on  the  coast  of 
Guinea. 

Heeren  shows  that  there  was  a  great  overland  commerce 
between  the  Black  Sea  and  "Great  Mongolia"  in  early 
times ;  and  he  mentions  that  a  "  Temple  of  the  Sun"  and  a 
great  caravansary  in  the  desert  of  Gobi  seem  to  have  been 
connected  with  this  commercial  intercourse.  It  is  not  im- 
probable to  suppose  this  caravan  commerce  began  very 
early,  and  that  it  did  something  towards  creating  the  north- 
ern portion  of  that  unbroken  line  of  Phoenician  cities  "  from 
the  Straits  of  Byzantium  to  the  confines  of  Egypt."  Prob. 
ably  the  civilized  life  and  activity  it  infused  into  "  the 
tribes  of  the  north"  gave  political  and  historical  existence 
to  that  people  of  many  races,  known  to  the  ancients  as 
Scythians. 

Arminius  Vambery,  in  his  "  Travels  in  Central  Asia,"  de- 
scribes very  important  ruins  near  the  eastern  shore  of  the 
Caspian  Sea,  at  a  place  called  Gomushtepe.  Connected 
wiJi  them  are  the  remains  of  a  great  wall,  which  he  fol- 
lowed "  ten  geographical  miles."  He  thinks  the  bricks  in 
these  ruins  are  like  those  at  Balkh.*  Between  Gomushtepe 
and  the  Little  Balkan  he  found  other  important  ruins, 
where,  according  to  the  Turkoman  story,  the  Caaba  was 
placed  before  it  went  to  Mecca.  In  connection  with  the 
ruins  at  Meshedi-Misriyan,  he  mentions  the  remains  of  a 

*  The  Moslem  Arabs  have  traditions  of  a  prodigious  wall,  or  ' '  rampart 
of  Yajuj  and  Majuj,"  built  by  an  Arabian  king  surnamed  "Dzu-l-Carnain" 
and  situated  in  that  region.  They  applied  the  same  surname  to  Alex- 
ander, it  is  said,  and  the  wall  has  been  improperly  connected  with  him. 
The  bricks,  which  resemble  those  at  Balkh,  indicate  much  greater  antiq- 
uity. Vambe'ry  reports  abundant  ruins  in  that  part  of  Central  Asia,  ex- 
tending to  China. 


1C2  1' '  re-Historic  Nations. 

vast  aqueduct,  extending  150  miles  to  the  Persian  Mount- 
ains. These  are  not  works  of  Tartars  or  Mongols,  as  we 
know  them  in  history.  Would  a  thorough  exploration,  tell 
us  what  they  signify  ? 

THE    PELASGIAXS. 

There  is  evidence  to  show  that  at  one  period — very  re- 
mote certainly,  more  than  2000  years  before  Christ,  we 
may  suppose — a  people  known  as  Pelasgi,  or  Pelasgians,  be- 
gan an  organized  dominion  which  included  Asia  Minor,  the 
Grecian  Peninsula,  and  the  whole  of  Northern  Greece.  The 
historical  traditions  of  the  Greeks  relating  to  this  people 
n-liT  chiefly  to  the  time  when  the  Pelasgians  were  broken 
into  many  separate  tribes  or  communities  under  various 
names.  But  there  are  references  to  the  older  time,  previ- 
ous to  the  breaking  up  of  their  extended  dominion  known 
as  Pelasgia.  Strabo  says  (bk.  xiii.,  ch.  iii.,  sect.  3)  "  that 
the  Pelasgi  were  a  great  nation ;  history,  it  is  said,  fur- 
nishes other  evidence,  for  Menecrates  of  Elea,  in  his  work 
on  the  foundation  of  cities,  says  the  whole  of  the  present 
Ionian  coast,  beginning  from  Mycale  and  the  neighboring 
islands,  was  formerly  inhabited  by  the  Pelasgi."  Again 
(bk.  v.,  ch.  ii.,  sect.  4),  "  Almost  every  one  is  agreed  that 
the  Pelasgi  were  an  ancient  race,  spread  throughout  the 
whole  of  Greece  ;"  and  "  many  have  asserted  that  the  na- 
tions of  the  Epirus  are  Pelasgic  because  the  dominions  of 
the  Pelasgi  extended  so  far."  In  bk.  vii.,  ch.  viL,  sect.  10,  he 
says:  "The  oracle  of  Dodona,  according  to  Ephorus,  was  es- 
tablished by  Pelasgi,  wrho  are  said  to  be  the  most  ancient 
people  that  were  sovereigns  in  Greece."  Herodotus  says 
(bk.  viii.,  ch.  xliv.),"The  Athenians,  when  the  Pelasgians 
possessed  that  which  is  now  called  Hellas,  were  Pelasgians." 


Sanskrit  Notice  of  Pelasgia.  163 

A  knowledge  of  this  Pelasgian  nation  seems  to  be  re- 
corded in  Sanskrit  literature,  which  shows  considerable  in- 
formation relative  to  Europe  and  Western  Asia,  and  a  bet- 
ter acquaintance  with  Western  Europe  in  ancient  times 
than  we  find  in  Greek  literature.  Wilford,  in  the  8th  vol- 
ume of  "Asiatic  Researches,"  describing  what  old  Sanskrit 
books  say  of  certain  sub-dwipas,  quotes  and  comments  as 
follows :  "  The  third  [sub]  dwipa  is  Placsha,  or  the  coun- 
try abounding  in  fig-trees.  It  is  called  Palangshu  by  the 
mythologists  of  Bootan,  and  included  the  Lesser  Asia,  Ar- 
menia, and  other  countries.  The  name  still  remains  in 
Placia^o,  town  of  Mysia,  whose  inhabitants,  with  those  of 
Scylace,  had  a  peculiar  language  (according  to  Herodotus), 
which  was  the  same  as  that  spoken  by  the  Pelasgi  at  Cres- 
tone  or  Crotone  in  Italy,  and  by  the  Pelasgi  who  lived  on 
the  shores  of  the  Hellespont.  Thus  the  appellation  Plac- 
sha, or  Palangshu,  appears  to  be  the  same  with  Placia  and 
Pelasgia."  We  have  no  means  to  determine  whether  the 
Greek  or  the  Sanskrit  word  most  resembles  the  old  name 
used  by  the  Pelasgians  themselves,  but  this  Sanskrit  sub- 
dwipa,  or  country  of  Placsha  or  Palangshu,  formed  in  the 
northwestern  part  of  the  more  ancient  Cusha-dwipa,  can 
mean  nothing  different  from  that  ancient  nation  of  the  Pe- 
lasgians, which,  according  to  the  Greeks,  occupied  the  same 
territory. 

Research  has  shown  very  conclusively  that  the  Pelas- 
gians belonged  to  the  Aryan  race.  Their  language  seemed 
"barbarous"  to  Herodotus,  because  it  differed  so  much 
from  the  dialect  he  used  that  he  could  not  understand  it. 
The  Greeks,  wrho,  it  is  said,  were  "  insignificant  in  the  ear- 
lier times,"  were  undoubtedly  a  family  group  of  this  peo- 
ple, with  which  many  other  Pelasgian  tribes  or  communi- 


Pre-Historic  Nations. 

ties  were  finally  incorporated.  The  Pelasgians  doubtless 
represented  a  mixture  of  several  branches  of  the  Aryan 
family,  and,  to  some  extent,  a  mixture  of  races,  for  in  later 
times  there  were,  in  the  cities  of  Asia  Minor,  lonians  like 
Thales,  who  claimed  to  be  "  of  Phoenician  extraction." 
There  was  pi'obably  a  mixture  of  races  in  the  Phoenician 
cities  of  Asia  Minor  in  the  earlier  periods  of  their  existence. 
The  national  organization  known  as  Pelasgia  or  Placsha 
could  not  have  lasted  many  ages.  What  Hesiod  said  of 
the  Leleges,  an  important  branch  of  the  Pelasgian  people, 
was  doubtless  true  of  the  whole;  they  were  "a  people 
gathered  from  among  the  nations  of  the  earth."  Strabo 
says  :  "  The  Pelasgians  were  a  nation  disposed  to  wander, 
ready  to  remove  from  settlement  to  settlement,  and  they 
experienced  both  great  increase  and  sudden  diminution  of 
their  number."  It  is  nowise  surprising  that  these  Pelas- 
gians wrent  in  such  large  numbers  to  Italy  and  Southwest- 
ern Europe,  leaving  the  Greek  family  predominant  in  Ionia 
and  Hellas. 

Clinton  (Fasti  Hellenici,  vol.  L,  p.  5-10)  says:  "A  dy- 
nasty of  Pelasgic  chiefs  existed  in  Greece  before  any  other 
dynasty  is  heard  of  in  Greek  traditions.  Excepting  in  this 
line,  none  of  the  genealogies  ascend  higher  than  the  ninth, 
or  eighth,  or  seventh  generation  before  the  Trojan  War. 
Danafis  is  in  the  ninth,  Deucalion  in  the  eighth,  Cadmus  in 
the  seventh  generation  before  that  epoch.  But  in  the  Pi- 
lasgic  branch  of  the  nation,  Phoroneus  is  in  the  eighteenth 
before  the  Trojan  War;  the  founder  of  Sicyon  is  his  con- 
temporary; and  the  Pelasgic  chief  who  planted  the  Pelas- 
gians in  Thessaly  is  five  generations  earlier  than  Deucalion. 
Inachus,  the  father  of  Phoroneus,  was  the  highest  term  in 
Grecian  history."  The  lists  name  nine  Pelasgian  kings 


Dates  in  Pelasgian  History.  165 

who  reigned  previous  to  the  time  of  Danatis,  beginning 
with  Inachus.  But  none  of  these  lists  can  be  received  as 
accurate  in  all  respects,  nor  can  it  be  reasonably  assumed 
that  Phoroneus,  like  some  of  the  later  kings  named  in  them, 
reigned  at  Argos. 

The  extensive  Pelasgian  kingdom  established  by  Inachus 
and  Phoroneus  must  have  begun  to  break  up  before  the 
time  of  the  expulsion  of  the  Hyksos  from  Egypt,  which  ap- 
pears to  have  sent  several  Cushite  leaders  and  colonies  into 
Greece.  Clinton  seems  to  favor  the  chronological  esti- 
mates which  give  the  year  1875  B.C.  as-  the  first  year  of 
the  reign  of  Inachus,  and  places  that  of  Phoroneus  twenty- 
five  years  later.  It  is  probable  that  the  realm  of  the  king 
of  Argos  who  was  displaced  by  Danatis  was  a  fragment 
only  of  what  had  been  the  kingdom  of  Phoroneus.  Ac- 
cording to  Eratosthenes,  the  probable  date  for  Danaiis  at 
Argos  is  1466  B.C.;  and  he  gives  1753  B.C.  as  the  date 
of  Phoroneus. 

MINOS   AND   HIS   CONQUESTS. 

There  is  neither  a  record  nor  a  tradition  relative  to  the 
date  of  Minos  that  has  sufficient  probability  to  deserve  at- 
tention. His  time  may  have  been  older  than  any  date 
that  has  been  assigned  for  it.  To  claim  him  as  a  Dorian 
Greek  is  improbable  and  absurd.  He  and  his  people  were 
Phoenicians  or  Arabian  Cushites,  for  Crete  was  an  important 
part  of  the  territorial  possessions  of  that  people.  He  may 
have  lived  at  the  close  of  the  Sidonian  period,  when,  as  a 
successful  revolutionist,  he  may  have  driven  the  Sidonians 
from  the  islands  and  other  regions  around  the  JEgean ;  or 
he  may  have  been  the  successful  conqueror  who  broke  up 
the  kingdom  of  the  Pelasgians.  Tradition  connects  Minos 


166  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

with  the  Phoenician  race.  He  was,  perhaps,  the  first  ruler 
who  gave  Crete  a  separate  and  independent  government. 
This  appears  to  be  signified  by  the  statement  that  "  the 
Cretans  traced  their  legal  and  political  institutions  to  Mi- 
nos." The  oldest  traditions  celebrate  him  as  a  just  law- 
giver; and  one,  of  later  date,  makes  him  a  brother  of  Ithad- 
amanthus ;  but  Ephorus,  quoted  by  Strabo,  says :  "  Minos 
was  an  imitator  of  Rhadamanthus,  an  ancient  personage, 
and  a  just  and  wise  man."  There  is  an  old  tradition  that 
Rhadamanthus  was  a  king  of  Arabia.  Herodotus  says : 
"Minos  was  a  great  conqueror,  and  prospered  in  all  his 
wars." 

According  to  the  uniform  testimony  of  antiquity,  Crete, 
in  the  time  of  Minos,  was  a  powerful  maritime  state ;  and  it 
is  said  that  he  not  only  suppressed  piracy,  but  also  made 
himself  master  of  the  ./Egean  Islands.  Many  traditions 
connect  Cretan  supremacy  with  the  cities  of  Asia  Minor. 
For  instance,  the  building  of  Miletus  is  assigned  to  Cre- 
tans, while  the  more  correct  representation,  according  to 
Pausanias,  seems  to  be  that  a  body  of  Cretans,  led  by  Mile1 
tus,  took  possession  of  the  city  and  changed  its  name.  "  Be- 
fore their  arrival  the  place  was  named  Anactoria,  and  more 
anciently  Lelegis."  It  appears  most  probable  that  Minos 
waged  war  against  the  Pelasgians,  and  that  he  gained  con- 
trol of  all  the  maritime  regions  around  the  ^Egean.  Like 
that  of  the  Pelasgians,  the  empire  he  established  seems  to 
have  been  of  short  duration.  It  must  have  terminated  sev- 
eral centuries  previous  to  the  beginning  of  the  Ionian  con- 
federacy. An  authentic  history  of  Minos  and  Pelasgia 
would  show  us  something  of  the  lost  history  of  Phoenicia, 
and  make  clearer  the  "Legendary  and  Heroic  Age  of 
Greece." 


Ho  Phoenician  Book  remains.  167 

THE   PHOENICIAN  LANGUAGE   AND  LITERATURE. 

According  to  the  uniform  and  explicit  testimony  of  Greek 
and  Roman  antiquity,  the  art  of  alphabetical  writing  was 
brought  into  existence,  or  first  diffused,  by  the  Phoenicians. 
This  art  was  evidently  originated  by  the  Arabian  Cushites 
in  ages  older  than  Egypt  or  Chaldea.  It  is  said,  also,  that 
the  Phoenicians  had  an  extensive  literature.  It  could  not 
be  otherwise  with  the  most  enlightened  people  of  antiquity 
— a  people  celebrated  in  all  the  nations  of  their  time  for 
intellectual  activity,  and  skill  in  the  art  of  writing ;  but 
their  literature  has  perished.  Not  one  book,  or  fragment 
of  a  book,  in  the  Phoenician  language,  has  been  preserved. 

We  have  a  Greek  translation  of  Hanno's  record  of  his 
voyage  down  the  west  coast  of  Africa,  and  translated  frag- 
ments of  a  "History,"  imputed  to  an  ancient  Phoenician 
author  named  Sanchoniathon,  but  supposed  by  some  to  be 
a  work  of  the  later  times,  and  perhaps  a  forgery.  We  have 
also  extracts,  preserved  in  Greek  by  Josephus  and  others, 
from  Phoenician  histories  by  writers  whose  names  are  given 
as  Dius  and  Menander.  In  quoting  them,  Josephus  stated 
as  a  fact  well  known  that  "  there  were  (in  his  time)  records 
among  the  Tyrians  that  took  in  the  history  of  many  years, 
and  that  these  were  public  writings  kept  with  great  exact- 
ness." Phoenician  writers  were  eminent  for  works  on  sci- 
ence, philosophy,  and  theology.  Strabo  states  that,  in  his 
time,  they  were  eminent  for  culture  in  astronomy,  mathe- 
matics, and  "  night  sailing" — that  astronomy  and  arithme- 
tic came  from  Phoenicia — and  adds :  "  At  the  present  time, 
these  cities  afford  the  best  opportunities  for  acquiring  a 
knowledge  of  these  and  of  all  other  branches  of  philoso- 
phy." 


168  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

It  is  generally  assumed  that  the  Phoenicians  spoke  He- 
brew, or  a  dialect  almost  identical  with  the  Hebrew.  The 
correctness  of  this  assumption,  however,  has  not  been  clear- 
ly demonstrated,  while  modern  researches  have  shown  that 
the  earliest  language  of  the  country  was  Hamitic  or  Cush- 
ite.  If  we  suppose,  what  seems  necessary,  that  the  first 
settlements  in  Phoenicia  were  quite  as  old  as  Egypt  or 
Chaldea,  we  must  suppose,  also,  that  the  ancient  Cushite 
tongue  first  used  there  underwent  important  changes  with 
the  progress  of  time,  and  was  more  than  once  developed  in 
new  forms  during  the  thirty  centuries  previous  to  the  rise 
of  Assyria.  We  have  no  specimen — not  even  an  epigraph 
— to  show  any  form  of  the  language  during  that  period, 
excepting  the  words  that  have  been  preserved  by  geogra- 
phy and  mythology,  which  are  not  Hebrew. 

Various  epigraphs  and  a  few  inscriptions,  none  of  them 
older  than  the  sixth  century  before  Christ,  and  most  of  them 
several  centuries  later,  furnish  the  most  important  linguis- 
tic remains  of  Phoenicia.  A  great  number  of  medals,  coins, 
and  epigraphs  have  been  recovered,  chiefly  in  Cyprus, 
Crete,  Cilicia,  Sicily,  Malta,  Southern  Spain,  and  Northern 
Africa.  These,  with  an  inscription  discovered  at  Marseilles, 
all  belong  to  the  Carthaginian  period,  when  Phoenicia  had 
declined,  and  when  the  Cushite  speech  of  the  Phoenicians, 
if  not  already  superseded  by  a  Semitic  dialect,  must  have- 
become  so  corrupted  in  its  vocabulary,  and  in  some  of  its 
forms,  by  Semitic  influence,  as  no  longer  to  resemble  it- 
self.* 

*  Sir  Henry  Rawlinson  mentions  Phoenician  inscriptions,  found  in  As- 
syrian ruins,  that  are  as  old  as  the  reign  of  Tiglath  Pileser,  744-72G  B.C. 
He  says,  "  They  are  among  the  most  ancient  specimens  we  possess  of  Phoe- 
nician writing."  See  the  Journal  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  New 


Phoenician  Inscriptions.  169 

The  first  attempt  to  explore  the  ruins  of  Phoenicia  was 
made  in  1854,  at  Sidon  (or  Saida),bythe  French.  Gold 
coin  of  the  age  of  Alexander  the  Great  was  found,  and, 
also,  an  important  sepulchral  inscription  on  a  royal  sar- 
cophagus. This  inscription,  now  in  the  Museum  of  the 
Louvre,  tells  us  that  the  sarcophagus  contained  the  mortal 
remains  of  Ashmunazer,  a  king  of  the  Sidonians.  Ernest 
Renan,  who  has  had  charge  of  the  explorations,  thinks  it 
belongs  to  the  sixth  century  before  the  Christian  Era.  In 
1860,  excavation  in  the  ruins  of  Phoenicia  was  renewed  by 
direction  of  the  French  government.  Several  fields  of  op- 
eration were  selected ;  and  excavations  were  made  at  Ruad 
or  Aradus,  Tortosa  or  Antaradus,  Martu  or  Marathos,  Gebal 
or  Byblus,  Sidon,  Tyre,  and  a  place  now  called  Oum-el- 
Awamid.  Several  other  inscriptions  have  been  found,  and 
Kome  important  remains  of  ancient  Phoenicia  have  been 
brought  to  light. 

In  the  fourth  edition  of  his  work  on  the  Semitic  lan- 
guages, Renan  gives  some  account  of  the  linguistic  discov- 
eries made  at  Sidon  in  1854-5.  He  assumes,  like  others, 
that  the  Phoenicians  spoke  a  Semitic  language  closely  allied 
to  the  Hebrew,  but  finds  that "  a  great  number  of  passages 
in  the  Phoenician  texts  cannot  be  explained  by  such  He- 
brew ,as  we  are  acquainted  with,"  and  presumes  that,  "  in 
the  separate  development  of  the  two  peoples  so  opposed  in 
character  and  manners,  the  two  languages,  although  iden- 
tical at  the  beginning,  became  different."  He  finally  takes 
this  view  of  the  linguistic  question : 

"  There  is  but  little  doubt  that  the  Phoenician,  indepen- 
dently of  its  similarity  to  the  Hebrew,  had  its  own  forms, 

Series,  vol.  i.,  p.  243-4.     He  points  out  only  that  the  characters  are  Phoe- 
nician. 

H 


170  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

which  gave  it  an  individuality  of  its  own  in  the  bosom  of 
the  Semitic  family;  but  Phoenician  studies  are  not  yet  suf- 
ficiently advanced,  or,  if  you  will,  the  Phoenician  texts  are 
not  yet  sufficiently  numerous  to  allow  us  to  determine 
those  forms  with  precision.  The  epigraphists,  who,  by 
means  of  readings  more  or  less  conjectural,  create  gram- 
matical forms  on  their  own  authority,  or  combine  arbitra- 
rily those  which  they  find  in  neighboring  dialects,  use  a 
method  that  is  much  too  convenient." 

It  is  possible  that,  in  the  latest  period  of  their  history, 
when  the  great  ages  of  their  intelligence  and  enterprise 
had  gone  by,  the  people  of  the  little  district  called  Phoeni- 
cia used  a  Semitic  dialect.  The  language  of  Chaldea  was 
changed  in  this  way  during  the  Assyrian  period.  A  thick 
veil  of  obscurity  covers  the  history  of  Northern  Arabia, 
Syria,  and  the  neighboring  countries  of  Asia  Minor  for  more 
than  a  thousand  years  previous  to  the  invasions  by  which 
all  those  countries  were  subjected  to  the  sway  of  Assyria. 
Important  political  and  linguistic  changes  may  be  sup- 
posed of  which  we  have  no  record.  If  we  allow  that  the 
Phoenicians,  during  the  ten  centuries  previous  to  the  fall  of 
Carthage,  used  a  Semitic  dialect,  it  by  no  means  follows 
that  this  was  their  original  tongue.  The  change  did  not 
extend  to  Northern  Africa,  where  Cushite  dialects  repre- 
senting the  ancient  Phoenician  language  of  that  region  are 
still  used  by  the  people  called  Berbers. 

There  are  some  facts  which  appear  to  show  that  the  lan- 
guage of  Phoenicia,  at  the  time  of  the  Assyrian  invasions, 
near  the  close  of  the  ninth  century,  had  become  notably 
different  from  that  of  the  Phoenician  communities  in  Africa 
and  Spain.  The  great  emigration  from  Tyre  to  Carthage, 
about  the  year  813  B.C.,  seems  to  have  carried  to  the  lat- 


Two  Classes  of  Inscriptions.  171 

ter  city  a  language  quite  different  from  that  of  the  native 
Carthaginians.  It  is  very  significant  that  Gesenius  and 
others  have  found  it  necessary  to  recognise  two  classes  of 
inscriptions  in  Africa :  (1.)  Those  found  at  Carthage,  which 
resemble  all  others  that  represent  the  direct  influence  of 
Phrenicia  in  its  later  ages ;  and,  (2.)  The  inscriptions  found 
in  Africa  at  a  distance  from  Carthage,  with  which  those 
discovered  in  Southern  Spain  must  be  classed.  The  differ- 
ences in  the  writing  are  marked,  and  the  fact  suggests  that 
the  Tyrians  who  migrated  to  Carthage  took  with  them  a 
style  of  writing,  and  probably  a  dialect,  different  from 
those  carried  to  Northern  Africa  and  Spain  by  the  Phoeni- 
cians in  earlier  times.  It  may  be  added  that  Sallust  (Ju- 
gurtha,  cap.  Ixxviii.),  mentioning  Leptis,  a  city  between  the 
Syrtes  founded  in  later  times  by  the  Sidonians,  observes 
that;  although  its  laws  and  worship  remained  the  same,  the 
language  of  its  inhabitants  had  been  recently  changed  by 
their  intermarrying  with  the  Numidians  (Ejus  civitatis 
lingua  modo  conversa  conmibis  Numidarwn). 

It  is  not  certain,  however,  that  there  was  an  actual  change 
of  language  in  Phoenicia,  previous  to  the  Christian  Era,  from 
Cushite  to  Semitic.  There  may  have  been  great  corrup- 
tion of  the  Cushite  tongue  used  there,  which  filled  it  with 
Semitic  words  and  affected  many  of  its  forms,  and  this  may 
explain  that  Hebrew  physiognomy  of  the  Phoenician  epi- 
graphs and  inscriptions  which  has  engaged  so  much  atten- 
tion. If  we  had  no  knowledge  of  modern  Persian  beyond 
a  few  brief  sentences  that  could  be  selected  from  its  liter- 
ature, it  might  be  suspected  of  Arabic  affinities;  and  mod- 
ern Turkish,  tested  in  the  same  way,  might  raise  a  dispute 
between  Persian  and  Arabic  claims  that  would  obscure  its 
actual  relation  to  the  Turanian  or  Scythic  family.  We 


172  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

cannot  reasonably  be  very  positive  in  regard  to  the  lin- 
guistic significance  of  the  few  Phoenician  words  and  sen- 
tences that  have  been  recovered.  As  Renan  says, "  Phoe- 
nician studies  are  not  yet  sufficiently  advanced"  to  bring 
the  question  to  a  satisfactory  settlement. 


Y. 

ARABIAN  ORIGIN  OF  CHALDEA. 

HISTORICAL  skepticism,  standing  rigidly  by  the  first  Greek 
Olympiad,  and  refusing  to  see  beyond  that  anything  but  a 
dark  realm  of  unmeaning  fiction,  must  at  times  find  it  dif- 
ficult to  maintain  self-respect.  It  cannot  be  entirely  blind. 
It  must  now  and  then  turn  to  the  great  past,  which  is  not 
so  completely  shut  up  in  darkness  as  it  pretends  and  tries 
to  believe,  with  a  feeling  that  its  bold  denials  have  nothing 
in  common  with  the  excellency  of  wisdom.  The  historical 
skeptic  must  at  times  feel  stirring  in  his  mind  the  painful 
emotions  of  doubt  when  his  philosophy  stands  looking, 
with  the  helpless  stare  of  foolishness,  at  the  undeniable 
facts  that  confound  its  reasonings  and  shame  its  credulity. 
For  instance,  how  is  it  possible  for  this  skepticism  to  con- 
sider honestly  what  is  known  of  Egypt,  India,  and  Chaldea, 
and  still  maintain  that  nothing  can  be  seen  in  remote  an- 
tiquity but  fables  floating  in  darkness  ? 

The  fact  that  Chaldea,  in  very  ancient  times,  was  a  seat 
of  enlightened  civilization,  has  been  admitted  and  discussed 
from  the  beginning  of  what  is  usually  called  the  historic 
period.  We  see  it  also  in  writings  older  than  this  period 
— the  Hebrew  Scriptures.  The  discoveries  made  in  that 
country  by  the  Greeks,  after  the  conquest  of  Babylon  by 
Alexander,  gave  the  Western  world  some  knowledge  of  the 
science  and  general  culture  of  the  Chaldeans.  Their  civil- 
ization became  an  ascertained  fact,  which  subsequent  ages 


174:  Pre-Hi-storic  Nations. 

have  been  constrained  to  recognise  and  respect.  Chaldean 
science  has  furnished  one  of  the  most  important  and  gener- 
ally respected  dates  of  ancient  history,  while,  at  the  same 
time,  Ancient  History,  as  heretofore  written,  has  talked  of 
Babylon,  and  described  the  wonderful  Babylon  of  the  com- 
paratively modern  time  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  without  noti- 
cing the  much  more  ancient  kingdom  o'f  Chaldea,  and  even 
without  admitting  the  existence  in  that  part  of  Asia  of  any 
monarchy  older  than  that  of  the  Assyrians. 

But  Chaldea,  so  distinctly  seen  through  the  ages,  and  so 
constantly  misunderstood,  is  at  length  brought  more  fully 
to  our  observation  by  recent  discoveries  in  the  ruins  of 
some  of  its  older  cities.  We  can  see  now  that  the  Assyri- 
an empire  was  preceded  by  a  much  older  kingdom  of  Chal- 
dea, which  existed  during  a  much  longer  period  of  time, 
and,  in  the  matters  of  race  and  language,  had  little  or  noth- 
ing in  common  with  the  Assyrians.  This  should  have  been 
discovered  by  the  Greeks  of  Alexander's  time,  when^hcre 
were  books  as  well  as  monuments  to  aid  inquiry ;  but  the 
Greeks  failed  to  make  a  clear  report  of  this  fact,  because 
neither  their  culture  nor  their  spirit  qualified  them  for  such 
investigations;  but  they  saw  and  admitted  the  great  ex- 
tent of  Chaldean  civilization,  and  the  history  of  Berosus, 
written  nearly  a  century  later,  was  never  discredited  in 
Greece. 

CHALDEAN   CIVILIZATION   AND   LEARNING. 

At  the  present  time,  some  writers,  enlightened  by  the  re- 
eults  of  recent  investigation,  and  not  taking  due  account 
of  the  older  Cushites  and  Aryans,  have  a  tendency  to  ex- 
aggerate or  overstate  both  the  originality  and  the  influence 
of  ancient  Chaldean  civilization.  George  Rawlinsion,  in 


Greek  Discoveries  in  Chaldea.  175 

his  valuable  work  —  "The  Five  Great  Monarchies  of  the 
Ancient  Eastern  World"  —  speaks  of  it  thus :  "  Chaldea 
stands  as  the  great  parent  and  inventress  of  Asiatic  civili- 
zation, without  any  rival  that  can  reasonably  dispute  her 
claims."  This  awards  to  Chaldea  what  belongs  to  the 
Cushites  and  Aryans.  The  much  more  ancient  Cushite 
civilization  created  Chaldea,  and  that  country  was  origin- 
ally, for  centuries,  merely  a  province  of  the  great  empire 
of  Cusha-dwipa.  It  appears  to  have  become,  at  a  very  ear- 
ly period,  one  of  the  most  important  representatives  of  the 
civilization  of  that  pre-historic  empire.  Beyond  this  there 
is  nothing  to  warrant  the  exaggerated  representation  of 
Mr.  Rawlinson.  Millenniums  must  be  counted  between  the 
origin  of  Chaldea  and  the  beginning  of  human  development 
in  Asia.  Nevertheless,  the  beginning  of  Chaldea  was  in 
very  remote  times. 

Among  the  discoveries  made  at  Babylon  by  the  Greeks 
there  was  one  of  great  importance,  which  in  better  hands 
would  have  been  of  far  more  service  to  the  world  ;  but  in 
their  hands  it  has  served  as  a  light  to  show  the  extent  of 
Chaldean  science.  Mr.  Rawlinson  speaks  of  it  as  follows : 

"  We  are  informed  by  Simplicius  that  Callisthenes,  who 
accompanied  Alexander  to  Babylon,  sent  to  Aristotle  from 
that  capital  a  series  of  astronomical  observations  which  he 
had  found  preserved  there,  extending  back  to  a  period  of 
1903  years  from  Alexander's  conquest  of  the  city.  Epi- 
genes  related  that  these  observations  were  recorded  in  tab- 
lets of  baked  clay,  which  is  quite  in  accordance  with  what 
we  know  of  the  literary  habits  of  the  people.  They  must 
have  extended,  according  to  Simplicius,  as  far  back  as  2234 
B.C.,  and  would  seem  to  have  been  commenced  and  car- 
ried on  for  many  centuries  by  the  primitive  Chaldean  peo- 


176  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

pie.  We  have  no  means  of  determining  their  exact  nature 
or  value,  as  none  of  them  have  been  preserved  to  us,  but  we 
have  every  reason  to  conclude  that  they  were  of  a  real  and 
substantial  character.  There  is  nothing  fanciful  or  (so  to 
speak)  astrological  in  the  early  astronomy  of  the  Baby- 
lonians." 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Roger  Long,  a  learned  and  enthusiastic  as- 
tronomer, who  wrote  on  this  subject  about  the  middle  of 
the  last  century,  remarked  on  the  astronomical  tablets  sent 
from  Babylon  as  follows :  "  How  much  it  is  to  be  lamented 
that  the  observations  of  1903  years,  transmitted  to  Aris- 
totle by  Callisthenes  from  Babylon — a  treasure  in  prac- 
tical astronomy  which  was  probably  inestimable,  and  of 
which  Aristotle  was  not  acquainted  with  either  the  use  or 
the  value — did  not  happen  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  his 
contemporary,  Eudoxus  1" 

The  regret  he  expressed  was  very  natural.  Others  have 
felt  it,  and  given  it  similar  expression.  It  is  certainly  la- 
mentable that  those  important  records,  after  being  exam- 
ined, talked  of,  reported  to  the  world  for  the  entertainment 
of  curiosity  and  wonder,  should  be  laid  away  to  become 
rubbish,  and  perish  without  farther  use.  Perhaps  unac- 
knowledged uses  of  those  records  brought  some  benefit  to 
the  science  of  astronomy  in  Greece,  where  all  that  was 
known  of  this  science  came  from  Egypt  and  the  East ;  but 
they  should  have  been  transcribed  and  studied;  Chaldean 
books  and  records  should  have  been  explored  for  addition- 
al information  ;  and  a  complete  account  of  the  investiga- 
tion should  have  been  preserved  in  the  works  of  Aristotle. 
Evidence  of  great  proficiency  in  the  science  of  astronomy 
is  found  in  the  oldest  Chaldean  ruins,  and  doubtless  similar 
records  of  more  ancient  date  could  have  been  found  in  the 


Chaldean  Astronomy.  177 

older  cities  and  temples  of  the  country.  Aristotle,  in  his 
De  Coelo,  lib.  ii.,  cap.  xii.,  describing  his  observation  of  an 
occultation  of  Mars  by  the  moon,  refers  to  the  records  sent 
to  him  by  Callisthenes,  in  a  general  way,  as  follows :  "  Sim- 
ilar observations  have  been  made  for  many  years  on  the 
other  planets  by  the  Egyptians  and  the  Babylonians,  many 
of  which  have  come  to  our  knowledge." 

Ideler,  quoted  and  indorsed  by  Humboldt,  says :  "  The 
Chaldeans  knew  the  mean  motions  of  the  moon  with  an 
exactness  which  induced  the  Greek  astronomers  to  use  their 
calculations  for  the  foundation  of  a  lunar  theory."  Ptole- 
my, as  may  be  learned  from  his  Almagest,  made  use  of  that 
portion  of  the  Chaldean  observations  which  extended  back 
to  the  year  721  B.C.,  obtained,  doubtless,  from  an  indepen- 
dent source.  In  Alexander's  time,  Chaldean  culture  was 
fast  declining ;  its  great  era  was  in  the  past ;  the  great  ob- 
servatory of  the  Temple  of  Belus  was  in  ruins ;  but  there 
were  .eminent  mathematicians  at  Babylon,  the  report  of 
whose  names  is  recorded  by  Strabo,  and  there  were  schools 
of  astronomy.  That  the  Chaldeans  had  great  knowledge 
of  astronomy  was  admitted  by  the  Greeks  and  Romans. 
The  Greeks,  and  through  them  the  Romans,  had  means  of 
being  well  informed  on  this  subject.  The  Greeks  evidently 
had  knowledge  of  Chaldean  books  and  records  in  which 
the  astronomical  attainments  of  that  people  were  abun- 
dantly shown.  The  campaign  of  Alexander  formed  a  great 
epoch  in  the  history  of  Hellenic  culture  by  opening  to  it  a 
wider  view  of  the  world,  and  bringing  it  into  closer  rela- 
tions with  the  civilization  and  science  of  the  East.  The 
gain  was  great,  and  it  was  to  some  extent  acknowledged. 

Diodorus  Siculus  says  the  Chaldeans  attributed  comets 
to  natural  causes,  and  could  foretell  their  reappearance. 

H2 


178  P re-Historic  Nations. 

He  states  that  their  recorded  observations  of  the  planets 
were  very  ancient  and  very  exact.  According  to  Seneca, 
their  theory  of  comets  was  quite  as  intelligent  and  correct 
as  that  of  the  moderns.  He  says  they  classed  them  Avith 
the  planets,  or  moving  stars  that  had  fixed  orbits  (cometas 
in  numero  stellarum  errantium  poni  d  Chaldceis,  tenerique 
cursos  eorum. — Natur.  Quest.,  lib.  vii.,  2).  Their  methods 
for  the  use  of  cycles  and  other  astronomical  appliances,  in 
arranging  and  measuring  time,  showed  a  correct  and  pro- 
found knowledge  of  this  science.  Astronomy  implies 
mathematics;  and  the  Chaldeans,  like  every  other  people 
of  Cushite  origin,  had  great  knowledge  of  mathematics. 
Much  progress  in  astronomy  requires  the  telescope,  or  some- 
thing equivalent;  and  it  seems  necessary  to  believe  that 
the  ancients  had  such  aids  to  eyesight.  Layard  and  oth- 
ers report  the  discovery  of  "  a  lens  of  considerable  power" 
in  the  ruins  of  Babylon.*  It  certainly  would  be  surprising 
if  necessity,  "  the  mother  of  invention,"  had  not  brought 
such  aids  to  the  astronomers  of  ancient  Arabia,  Chaldea, 
Egypt,  and  India.  I  have  already  shown  that  the  genius 
which  made  such  attainments  in  astronomy  must  have  been 
able  to  contrive  whatever  instruments  were  necessary  to 
progress  in  the  science.  Thought  and  invention  did  not 
begin  with  the  moderns.  It  was  then  quite  as  possible  as 
now  to  see  and  devise  what  was  necessary. 

Even  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  with  lower  attainments 

*  Lu^irtl  says  this  lens  was  found,  with  two  glass  bowls,  in  a  chamber 
of  tlie'Wn  called  Nimroud.  It  is  plano-convex,  an  inch  and  a  half  in  di- 
ameter and  nine  tenths  of  an  inch  thick.  It  gives  a  focus  at  4£  inches 
from  the  plane  side.  Sir  David  Brewster  says,  "  It  was  intended  to  be 
used  as  a  lens,  either  for  magnifying,  or  condensing  the  rays  of  the  sun." 
See  Layard's  "Nineveh  and  Babylon,"  p.  1C,  17,  chap.  viii. 


Ancient  Aids  to  Eyesight.  179 

in  astronomy,  had  aids  to  eyesight.  They  are  mentioned 
in  De  Placitis  Phil.,  lib.  iii.,  c.  v.,  attributed  to  Plutarch; 
also  in  his  Vita  Mareelli ;  and  by  Pliny,  Hist.  Natiir.,  lib. 
xxx vii.,  c.  v.,  where  he  says  that,  in  his  time,  artificers  used 
emeralds  to  assist  the  eye,  and  that  they  were  made  con- 
cave the  better  to  collect  the  visual  rays  (smaragdi  eidem 
plerumque  et  concavi  ut  visum  colligant).  He  adds  that 
Nero  used  such  glasses  when  he  watched  the  fights  of  the 
gladiators.  There  is  frequent  mention  of  concave  and  con- 
vex glasses  used  for  optical  purposes,  and  they  evidently 
came  from  Egypt  and  the  East.  lamblichus  tells  us,  in 
his  life  of  Pythagoras,  that  Pythagoras  sought  to  contrive 
instruments  that  should  aid  hearing  as  effectually  as  "  optic 
glasses"*  and  other  contrivances  aided  sight.  Plutarch 
speaks  of  mathematical  instruments  used  by  Archimedes 
"  to  manifest  to  the  eye  the  largeness  of  the  sun."  Pythag- 
oras and  Archimedes  both  studied  in  Egypt  and  Phoeni- 
cia, and  probably  in  Chaldea ;  for  Pythagoras,  who  lived 
in  the  sixth  century  before  Christ,  is  said  to  have  visited 
"  Egypt  and  many  countries  of  the  East"  in  pursuit  of 
knowledge ;  and  Archimedes,  who  lived  after  the  time  of 
Alexander,  spent  much  time  in  Egypt,  and  visited  "  many 
other  countries."  It  appears  that,  in  the  time  of  Pythag- 
oras, "  optic  glasses,"  contrived  to  increase  the  power  of 
vision,  were  so  common  as  not  to  be  regarded  as  objects  of 
curiosity,  and  there  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that  they 
were  first  invented  and  used  by  the  great  men  who  created 
that  profound  science  of  astronomy  for  which  people  of 
Cushite  origin  were  everywhere  so  pre-eminently  distin- 
guished, and  which  was  so  intimately  connected  with  their 
religion. 

*  vtj  A/a — Sid 


180  Pre-Historic  Nations. 


HISTORY    OF   CHALDEA   BY   BEROSUS. 

The  Greeks  failed  to  give  the  world  such  an  account  of 
Chaldea  as  its  importance  required.  Much,  however,  may 
have  been  written  on  this  subject  which  has  not  come  down 
to  us.  Callisthenes  wrote  a  history  of  Alexander's  great 
campaign  against  the  Persians,  which  has  perished  entirely ; 
and  there  were  narratives  by  Megasthenes,  Nearchus,  and 
Aristobulus.  Others  undoubtedly  wrote  something  on  the 
countries  he  occupied,  but  nothing  in  the  literature  of  the 
ancients,  as  we  have  it,  indicates  that  any  Greek  undertook 
to  write  a  history  of  Babylon  and  of  the  country  to  which 
it  belonged,  although  much  is  found  in  some  portions  of 
that  literature  relating  to  the  Babylonians. 

Nevertheless,  nearly  300  years  before  Christ,  a  regular 
history  of  Chaldea,  in  nine  books,  was  written  in  Greek  by 
Berosus,  a  Chaldean  priest  of  Belus.  The  materials  for  this 
work  were  supplied  by  archives  then  existing  in  the  tem- 
ple of  Belus  at  Babylon.  Like  many  other  works  of  the 
highest  importance,  it  was  allowed  to  perish.  What  we 
know  of  its  contents  is  found  in  extracts  from  it,  copied 
and  thus  preserved  by  writers  whose  works  still  exist. 

Berosus  gave  the  oldest  traditions  of  the  Chaldeans  con- 
cerning the  origin  of  the  human  race,  described  Chaldea 
and  its  people,  related  their  history,  and  furnished  a  list  of 
Chaldean  sovereigns  down  to  the  beginning  of  the  Assyri- 
an empire,  about  the  year  1273  B.C.  Its  chief  feature  was 
a  history  of  the  kingdom  of  Chaldea  previous  to  the  time 
of  that  empire — a  kingdom  that  may  have  counted  more 
millenniums  than  the  Assyrian  empire  counted  centuries. 
Of  course  this  work  could  not  be  properly  accepted  by  any 
modern  system  of  chronology ;  therefore  it  has  been  set 


Ancient  Kings  of  Chaldea.  181 

aside  as  of  no  account  by  those  schemes  of  ancient  history 
which  modern  chronology  has  indorsed  as  orthodox ;  but 
it  was  not  discredited  either  by  the  Greeks  for  whom  it 
was  written,  or  by  the  early  Christian  fathers,  who  gave  it 
much  attention;  and  modern  exploration  in  the  old  ruins 
of  Ofialdea  has  confirmed  its  statements  as  substantially 
correct. 

Fragments  of  this  work  of  Berosus  have  come  down  to 
us  in  the  writings  of  Josephus,  Eusebius,  Syncellus,  and 
several  of  the  Christian  fathers.  It  does  not  appear  that 
he  gave  a  particular  and  complete  account  of  the  early  ages 
of  the  Chaldean  kingdom,  nor  is  it  certain  that  his  list  of 
the  kings  goes  back  to  its  earliest  times.  It  may  be  that 
his  enumeration  of  actual  sovereigns  begins  with  that  gfeat 
epoch  in  the  history  of  the  country  when  the  whole  \ras 
first  united  under  one  government.  Nevertheless,  the  list, 
as  it  stands,  is  quite  too  long  to  please  unreformed  chro- 
nologists.  The  extract  from  his  history  in  which  it  is  found 
describes  the  long  cyclical  antediluvian  ages,  in  which  ten 
fabulous  kings  reigned  432,000  years.  Then,  coming  to 
what  he  considered  history,  it  enumerates  163  kings  of 
Chaldea,  who  reigned  successively  from  the  time  when  the 
list  begins  to  the  rise  of  the  Assyrian  empire.  Berosus 
begins  with  a  dynasty  of  86  kings,  of  whose  time  he  knew 
nothing.  He  gave  the  names  of  these  kings,  which  are 
lost.  He  had  n"o  history  or  chronology  of  their  time,  there- 
fore he  subjected  it  to  a  cyclical  calculation,  which  gives 
it  more  a  look  of  myth  than  of  history.  In  the  religious, 
political,  and  linguistic  changes  of  the  country,  the  records 
of  the  first  dynasties  had  been  lost.  They  had  suffered  the 
usual  waste  of  time.  The  extracts  from  his  work,  in  pass- 
ing through  the  hands  of  many  copyists,  have  necessarily 


182  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

become  more  or  less  imperfect.     His  list,  as  we  have  it,  is 
as  follows : 

First,      8G  Chaldean  kings — history  and  time  mythical. 

Second,    8  Median        "       during  224  years. 

Third,    11  " 

Fourth,  49  Chaldean     " 

Fifth,       9  Arabian       "        during  245  years. 

The  rulers  of  the  Assyrian  Empire  were  next  added  as  a 
sixth  dynasty,  and  the  history  was  brought  down  to  the 
capture  of  Babylon  by  Cyrus  the  Great.  The  blank  spaces 
in  the  list  are  doubtless  the  result  of  careless  copying,  and 
of  imperfections  created  in  manuscripts  by  use  and  time. 
A  great  amount  of  resolute  ingenuity  has  been  employed 
to  bring  Berosus  into  harmony  with  the  popular  chronolo- 
gy, especially  since  archaeology  has  begun  to  remove  the 
obscurity  in  which  ancient  Chaldea  has  been  shrouded. 
Sir  Henry  Rawlinson,  without  having  himself  originated 
devices  for  this  purpose,  has  embarrassed  his  own  investi- 
gations by  using  some  of  the  cleverest  and  boldest  of  those 
contrived  by  others.  Admitting  freely  that  "  each  succeed- 
ing discovery  has  tended  to  authenticate  the  chronology 
of  Berosus,  and  to  throw  discredit  upon  the  tales  of  Ctesi- 
as  and  his  followers,"  he  has  nevertheless  looked  with  too 
much  favor  on  the  efforts  of  those  contrivers  of "  chrono- 
logical harmony"  who  have  treated  Berosus  somewhat  as 
Ctesias  treated  the  facts  of  Mesopotamian  history.  He 
gives  prominence  to  an  "  emendation"  proposed  in  a  pamph- 
let by  Dr.  Brand  is,  entitled  "Jterum  Assyriarum  Tempera, 
Emendata"  and  describes  it  as  "  a  most  ingenious  sugges- 
tion of  German  criticism." 

The  purpose  of  this  brilliant  ingenuity  is  to  make  the 
old  kingdom  of  Chaldea  begin  with  the  year  2234  B.C. ; 


Chronologists  on  Berosus.  183 

therefore  its  first  step  is  to  declare,  in  the  boldest  way,  that 
the  first  part  of  the  list  of  Berosus  is  "  fabulous."  The  first 
86  kings  are  struck  out  with  the  best  air  of  historical  skep- 
ticism, although  nothing  requires  it  or  justifies  it  save  the 
"necessities  of  chronological  harmony."  It  is  the  same 
unscrupulous  method  that  was  employed  against  the  an- 
cient history  of  Egypt.  Next,  the  Median  dynasty  is  "  left 
out  of  consideration,"  as  representing  a  Magian  race  who 
ruled  in  Babylon  before  the  Cushites  went  there — a  neces- 
sary but  most  unwarranted  hypothesis.  To  these  "  emen- 
dations" two  others  are  added ;  the  next  dynasty  in  order 
is  described  as  "  Chaldean"  (which  may  be  correct),  and  its 
time  is  given  as  258  years;  and  a  number  is  devised  for 
the  dynasty  of  49  Chaldean  kings,  which  makes  the  whole 
time  of  its  duration  no  more  than  458  years — a  desperate 
manoeuvre,  which  secures  the  date  required  while  it  insults 
common  sense.  The  scheme  of  Chaldean  history  devel- 
oped by  this  operation  would  amaze  Berosus.  It  is  as  fol- 
lows : 

First,      11  (Chaldean  kings),  (258)  years,  from  2234  to  1976. 

Second,  49          "  "        (458)  years,  from  1976  to  1518. 

Third,      9  Arabian         "        (245)  years,  from  1518  to  1273. 

The  hundred  and  sixty-three  kings  of  Berosus  are  re- 
duced to  sixty-nine,  the  popular  chronology  is  rescued 
temporarily  from  a  great  embarrassment,  and  "  ingenuity" 
wears  a  crown  of  laurel.  A  scheme  very  similar  to  this 
is  quoted  in  George  Rawlinson's  "Five  Monarchies"  as 
"  Gutschmidt's  revision."  In  each  case  it  is  admitted  that 
astronomical  calculations  began  at  Babylon  in  the  year 
2234  B.C.  It  follows,  of  course,  that  the  great  Chaldean 
culture,  the  temple  of  Belus  with  its  observatory,  the  city 
of  Babylon,  and  the  organized  schools  of  Chaldean  science, 


184  Pre-IIistoriG  Nations. 

were  all  in  existence  at  the  very  beginning  of  the  Cushite 
occupation  of  the  country,  which  is  incredible.  Such  at- 
tempts to  establish  a  compromise  between  Berosus  and 
false  chronology  must  necessarily  be  failures.  They  are 
false  and  mischievous  in  all  respects. 

The  hypothesis  that  the  country  was  occupied  by  a 
"  Magian"  or  Aryan  race  before  the  Cushites  went  there 
is  explicitly  contradicted  not  only  by  Berosus,  but  also 
by  the  testimony  of  records  disentombed  from  the  ruins, 
which  show  incontestably  that  the  race  which  first  occu- 
pied Lower  Mesopotamia  and  introduced  civilization  was 
neither  Aryan  nor  Semitic.  Rawlinson  himself  admits  this 
without  qualification.  That  "Median  dynasty"  was  pre- 
ceded by  long  ages  of  Chaldean  supremacy  and  culture, 
and,  according  to  Berosus,  whose  testimony  cannot  now  be 
invalidated,  by  a  line  of  86  Chaldean  kings.  Those  who 
are  not  frightened  by  such  amounts  of  past  time  as  this 
implies  will  not  be  in  haste  to  discredit  the  testimony  by 
which  it  is  supported.  Exploration  has  found  some  of  the 
older  cities  of  the  country,  but  the  oldest  structures  and 
first  foundations  of  those  cities  were  probably  long  since 
beyond  its  reach.  We  cannot  doubt  that  the  discovery 
of  ancient  Chaldea  will  be  made  still  more  complete  by 
farther  exploration  in  the  ruins  and  among  the  records  al- 
ready recovered. 

That  "  ingenious  suggestion  of  German  criticism"  (not 
the  most  intelligent  German  criticism,  however)  invents 
one  number  which  is  in  itself  too  unreasonable  to  win  favor. 
According  to  its  revision,  the  49  Chaldean  kings  reigned 
only  458  years,  which  is  too  improbable  for  belief.  Raw- 
linson feels  this,  and  objects  that  it  makes  the  49  kings 
reign  less  than  ten  years  each,  an  average  which  he  pro- 


The  Ancient  Chaldeans.  185 

nounces  "  quite  impossible  in  a  settled  monarchy  like  the 
Chaldean."  Nevertheless,  instead  of  censuring  this  reck- 
less invention  of  "  ingenuity,"  he  proposes  to  reduce  the 
number  of  the  kings  !  and  that,  too,  without  the  slightest 
warrant  for  doing  so,  beyond  the  desire  to  reach  a  given 
conclusion.  Writers  of  ancient  history  have  usually  paid 
great  respect  to  the  year  2234  B.C.  The  astronomical  rec- 
ord found  at  Babylon  began  with  that  date;  but  this 
was  not  the  beginning  of  Chaldean  history,  and  any  at- 
tempt to  make  it  so  is  preposterous.  Rawlinson  himself 
mentions  a  Cushite  or  Hamitic  inscription,  found  in  Susi- 
ana,  in  which  there  is  a  date  that  goes  back  nearly  to  the 
year  3200  before  Christ. 

CHALDEAN   ANTIQUITIES   AND   TRADITIONS. 

Ancient  Chaldea  consisted  of  the  lower  part  of  the  rich 
alluvial  region  between  the  Euphrates  and  the  Tigris,  al- 
though it  seems  to  have  included,  or  to  have  been  very  in- 
timately connected  with,  other  territory  on  the  opposite 
sides  of  both  rivers,  especially  the  important  district 
known  as  Susiana.  The  name  Chaldea  comes  to  us  from 
Semitic  languages — the  Aramaic  and  the  Hebrew — through 
the  Greek.  In  their  inscriptions  the  people  are  called  Ak- 
kadim.  Whether  described  as  Cushites  or  as  Hamites  in 
linguistic  reports  on  the  inscriptions,  the  people  represent- 
ed by  the  Chaldean  ruins  were  all  of  the  same  race.  The 
uniform  statement  is  that  "  all  the  kings  whose  monuments 
are  found  in  ancient  Chaldea  used  the  same  language  and 
the  same  power  of  writing,  professed  the  same  religion,  and 
followed  the  same  traditions."  There  are  traces  of  inter- 
course with  other  races ;  Aryan,  Semitic,  and  Turanian  el- 
ements are  noticed ;  and,  in  later  ages  of  the  kingdom, 


1SG  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

there  seems  to  have  been  a  remarkable  mixture  of  races  at 
Babylon.  There  appears  to  be  some  evidence  that  the 
Cushite  dialect  of  Susiana  was  a  little  different  from  that 
of  Lower  Chaldea,  and,  probably,  other  differences  of  dia- 
lect will  come  clearly  to  light  as  the  investigation  goes 
forward.* 

Berosus  stated,  as  an  old  tradition  of  the  Chaldean  peo- 
ple, that  their  ancestors  and  their  civilization  came  origin- 
ally from  a  region  on  the  Ery  thrrean  Sea,  which  is  confirmed 
by  discoveries  in  the  ruins.  By  the  Erythraean  Sea  the 
ancients  usually  meant  the  waters  of  the  Indian  Ocean  and 
Persian  Gulf.  He  gives,  also,  an  old  Chaldean  tradition, 
which  seems  to  preserve  a  recollection  of  the  first  impres- 
sion made  upon  the  rude  aboriginal  inhabitants  of  the 
country  by  the  beginning  of  their  intercourse  with  the 
maritime  people  of  Arabia  who  gave  them  civilization.  In 
our  day,  some  of  the  South  Sea  Islanders  supposed  the  first 
ship  they  saw  to  be  a  living  creature.  This  tradition,  as 
stated  by  Berosus  and  quoted  by  Alexander  Polyhistor,  is 
as  follows : 

"  In  the  first  year  there  appeared  from  that  part  of  the 
Erythraean  Sea  which  borders  on  Babylonia  an  animal  des- 
titute of  reason,  by  name  Cannes,  whose  whole  body  was 
that  of  a  fish ;  and  under  the  fish's  head  he  had  another 

*  The  desire  to  make  the  Turanian  the  most  ancient  ethnic  element  in 
Western  Asia  comes  from  the  wholly  untenable  theory  that  Chinese  is  the 
oldest  language  in  the  world ;  that  Turanian  speech  was  the  first  devel- 
opment from  it ;  and  that  the  Cushite,  Semitic,  and  Aryan  languages  were 
developed  from  the  Turanian.  This  is  romance,  not  science.  Mean- 
while, the  most  ancient  ethnic  element  is  so  clearly  Cushite,  that  these 
theorists  resort  to  the  device  of  classing  the  Karaite  or  Cushite  group  of 
tongues  as  a  branch  of  the  Turanian  family. 


First  Civilizers  of  Chaldea.  187 

head,  with  feet  also  similar  to  those  of  a  man.  His  voice, 
too,  and  language,  were  articulate  and  human ;  and  a  rep- 
resentation of  him  is  preserved  even  unto  this  day.  This 
being  was  accustomed  to  pass  the  day  among  men ;  and  he 
gave  them  an  insight  into  letters  and  sciences,  and  arts  of 
every  kind.  He  taught  them  to  construct  cities,  to  found 
temples,  to  frame  laws,  and  explained,  to  them  the  princi- 
ples of  geometrical  knowledge.  He  made  them  distinguish 
the  seeds  of  the  earth,  and  showed  them  how  to  collect  the 
fruits ;  in  short,  he  instructed  them  in  everything  that  could 
tend  to  soften  their  manners  and  humanize  their  lives. 
And,  when  the  sun  was  set,  this  being,  Oannes,  retired  again 
to  the  sea,  and  passed  the  night  in  the  deep." 

This  is  plainly  a  mythical  reference  to  the  first  remem- 
bered appearance  in  the  Euphrates  of  ships  from  a  civilized 
country,  and  of  the  first  introduction  into  Chaldea  of  the 
arts  of  civilized  life.  The  ship,  Oannes,  described  as  a 
Avonderful  being  and  transformed  into  a  sea-god,  appeared 
in  that  part  of  the  Erythraean  Sea  which  borders  on  Baby- 
lonia ;  that  is  to  say,  it  came  from  the  coast  of  Arabia. 
The  enlightened  Cushites  or  Ethiopians  of  Arabia,  the  mar- 
itime adventurers,  the  princely  merchants,  the  enlightened 
masters  in  science,  the  wonderful  colonizers  of  remote  an- 
tiquity, brought  civilization  to  the  barbarous  Semites  of 
Mesopotamia.  They  came  in,  established  colonies,  and  oc- 
cupied the  whole  country,  giving  it  their  religion,  their  sci- 
ence, their  manners  and  customs,  and  all  their  arts  of  civil- 
ized life.  Even  their  language  was  made  supreme,  exclud- 
ing the  Semitic  dialects  everywhere,  excepting  perhaps  at 
the  West,  and  in  that  part  of  the  country  afterwards  known 
as  Assyria. 


188  Pre-Historic  Nations. 


THE   CHALDEAN   RUINS   AND   INSCRIPTIONS. 

Lower  Chaldea,  now  a  desolation  thinly  inhabited  by 
nomadic  tribes,  was  formerly  the  most  populous  region  on 
the  globe.  William  Kennett  Loftus,  in  his  record  of  "  Trav- 
els and  Researches  in  Chaldea,"  makes  this  statement :  "  In 
no  other  part  of  Babylonia  is  there  such  astonishing  proof 
of  ancient  civilization  and  denseness  of  population.  Some 
lofty  pile  is  generally  visible  to  mark  the  site  of  a  once  im- 
portant city,  while  numerous  little  spots,  covered  with  bro- 
ken pottery,  point  to  the  former  existence  of  villages  and 
of  a  rural  population."  George  Rawlinson  names  the  ruins 
of  twenty-five  great  cities  within  that  small  territory,  be- 
sides the  cities  of  Ur,  Nipur,  Larsa,  Erech,  and  Babylon, 
whose  ruins  have  been  explored.  lie  says,  in  the  first  vol- 
ume of  his  "  Ancient  Monarchies  of  the  Eastern  "World," 
"Farther  investigation  will  probably  add  largely  to  this 
catalogue,  for  many  parts  of  Babylonia  are  still,  to  some 
extent,  unexplored.  This  is  especially  true  of  the  tract  be- 
tween the  Shat-el-Hie  and  the  Lower  Tigris,  a  district 
which,  according  to  geographers,  abounds  with  ruins." 

The  most  ancient  ruins  in  Chaldea  are  those  towards  the 
south,  such  as  Ur,  Erech,  and  Senkereh ;  and  here,  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  Persian  Gulf  (which  at  that  time 
reached  inland  nearly  150  miles  farther  than  at  present), 
the  explorers  place  the  primitive  seat  of  Chaldean  civili- 
zation. Mr.  Loftus  gives  the  following  account  of  the  pres- 
ent condition  of  the  country :  "  The  ruins  of  Warka  (the 
same  as  Erech)  are  in  latitude  39°  19'  N.,  and  longitude- 
45°  40'  E.,  and  are  four  miles  distant  from  the  nearest  point 
on  the  eastern  bank  of  the  Euphrates.  An  elevated  tract 
of  desert  soil,  ten  miles  in  breadth,  is  slightly  raised  above 


What  the  Ruins  reveal.  189 

a  series  of  inundations  and  marshes  caused  by  the  annual 
overflow  of  the  Euphrates.  Upon  this  are  situated  not 
only  the  ruins  of  Warka,  but  also  of  Senkereh,  Tel  Ede,  and 
Hammam — all  unapproachable  except  from  November  to 
March,  when  the  river  assumes  its  lowest  level."  How 
different  from  what  Chaldea  was  in  the  great  days  of  her 
glory,  when  populous  and  flourishing  cities  stood  where  we 
now  find  these  almost  inaccessible  ruins !  Neither  the  soil 
nor  the  atmosphere  is  the  same. 

The  ruins  of  four  of  the  older  Chaldean  cities  have  been 
explored,  to  some  extent,  with  very  notable  results.  These 
four  are,  1.  Mugheir,  the  same  as  Hur,  or  "Ur  of  the  Chal- 
dees,"  Mugheir  being  the  modern  Semitic  name  of  the 
ruins;  2.  Larsa  (now  called  Senkereh),  the  same  as  Ellarsa 
of  the  Bible ;  3.  Warka  or  Hurruk,  the  same  as  Erech  or 
Orech  of  the  Hebrews ;  4.  Niffer,  or  Nipur,  or  Nopher,  as 
the  Talmud  has  it.  The  Talmudists  conjecture,  without 
good  reason,  that  this  last-named  city  was  the  same  as 
Calneh  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures.  We  may,  with  much 
better  reason,  suppose  it  to  be  the  BtX/3*/  of  Ptolemy,  and 
the  Babel  of  the  tenth  chapter  of  Genesis.  Sir  Henry  Raw- 
linson  says  of  it, "  This  city  had  originally  the  name  of  the 
god  Belus,  and  is,  perhaps,  the  EiXftrj  of  Ptolemy."  He 
thinks  "  the  Greek  traditions  of  the  foundation  of  a  great 
city  on  the  Euphrates  by  Belus  refer  to  this  place  rather 
than  to  Babylon." 

Reports  of  these  investigations  have  appeared  from  time 
to  time  in  the  various  European  journals  devoted  to  Orien- 
tal and  archa3ological  subjects,  and  in  the  publications  of 
English,  French,  and  German  scholars  engaged  in  such  in- 
quiries, among  which  none  are  more  important  than  those 
of  Sir  Henry  Rawlinson.  A  good  summary  of  what  has 


190  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

been  found  in  the  ruins  of  the  Chaldean  cities  I  have  named 
is  given  in  the  first  volume  of  George  Rawlinson's  "  Five 
Great  Monarchies  of  the  Ancient  Eastern  World."  Amon^ 

o 

the  important  facts  discovered  are  the  following : 

1.  The  ruins  furnish  what  appears  to  be  conclusive  evi- 
dence that  civilization  was  brought  to  Chaldea  from  Ethi- 
opia— that  is  to  say,  from  Arabia.     In  the  inscriptions,  the 
two  countries  are  connected  in  such  a  way  as  makes  any 
other  conclusion  impossible.     Their  vernacular  name  for 
Ethiopia  is  Mirukh,  and  its  maritime  enterprise  is  very  dis- 
tinctly recognised. 

2.  The  oldest  city  and  first  capital  of  the  country  was 
TJr.     It  seems  to  be  understood  that  the  settlement  of  the 
country  began  with  the  building  of  Ur.    At  a  later  period, 
Erech  was  for  a  time  the  royal  city ;  but  the  great  cit-y  of 
the  country,  after  it  became  independent  and  before  the 
rise  of  Babylon,  was  the  city  which,  in  Semitic  speech,  is 
called  Nipur  and  Niflfer,  and  which  tradition  describes  as 
the  city  of  Belus,  or  the  most  ancient  Babylon. 

3.  It  is  shown,  as  already  mentioned,  that  the  language 
of  ancient  Chaldea,  found  abundantly  in  .these  ruins,  and 
that  found  in  the  ruins  of  Southern  Arabia,  belong  to  the 
same  family,  and  that  they  are  radically  different  from  the 
Semitic  tongue  of  the  Assyrian  empire.     This  is  the  report 
of  all  the  best  investigators  who  have  studied  the  inscrip- 
tions.    A  Scythian  or  Turanian  theory  was  started,  which 
made  Nimrod  a  Turanian,  and  sought  support  in  the  Meso- 
potamian  inscriptions.     It  was  never  anything  more  than 
a  very  improbable  theory. 

4.  As  already  stated,  the  ruins  confirm  Berosus  by  show- 
ing that  Chaldea  was  a  cultivated  and  flourishing  nation, 
governed  by  kings,  long  previous  to  the  time  when  the  city 


Great  Antiquity  of  Ur.  191 

known  to  us  as  Babylon  rose  to  eminence  and  became  the 
seat  of  empire.  During  that  long  time  there  were  several 
great  political  epochs  in  the  history  of  the  country,  repre- 
senting important  dynastic  changes,  and  several  transfers 
of  the  seat  of  government  from  one  city  to  another.  Such 
epochs  in  Chaldean  history  are  indicated  by  the  list  of  Be- 
rosus. 

The  history  of  Berosus  is  confirmed  and  made  authentic 
beyond  reasonable  question.  There  was  never  anything  to 
discredit  his  account  of  Chaldea  save  the  natural  tendency 
of  false  chronology  to  discredit  literary  records,  and  even 
the  testimony  of  contemporaneous  monuments,  which  can- 
not easily  submit  to  its  revisions. 

The  oldest  Chaldean  cities  were  in  the  neighborhood  of 
the  Persian  Gulf.  Ur,  or  Hur,  represented  as  the  first  city 
built  by  the  colonizing  Cushites,  was  situated  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Euphrates,  with  the  open  sea  before  it.  Its  ruins  are 
now  at  a  long  distance  from  both.  Sir  Henry  Rawlinson,  in 
the  27th  volume  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society's  Jour- 
nal, says :  "  When  Chaldea  was  first  colonized,  or,  at  any 
rate,  when  the  seat  of  empire  was  first  established  there, 
the  emporium  of  trade  seems  to  have  been  at  Ur  of  the 
Chaldees,  which  is  now  150  miles  from  the  sea,  the  Persian 
Gulf  having  retired  nearly  that  distance  before  the  sedi- 
ment brought  down  by  the  Euphrates  and  Tigris."  A  lit- 
tle reflection  on  the  vast  period  of  time  required  to  effect 
a  geological  change  so  great  as  this  will  enable  us  to  see 
to  what  a  remote  age  in  the  deeps  of  antiquity  we  must  go 
to  find  the  beginning  of  civilization  in  the  Mesopotamian 
Valley.  No  discoveries  made  in  the  old  ruins  of  the  East 
are  more  interesting  or  more  important  than  those  which 
unveil  to  us  the  early  history  of  Chaldea, 


192  Pre-Historic  Nations. 


TOE  .ORIGIN    OF   CHALDEA. 

The  linguistic  and  archaic  obscurities  in  which  some  of 
the  questions  raised  by  these  discoveries  are  buried,  shut 
them  out  from  general  discussion.  Only  those  scholars 
whose  peculiar  acquirements  remove  this  difficulty,  and 
whose  profound  linguistic  studies  of  the  cuneifonn  records 
have  made  them  familiar  with  the  intricacies  in  which 
these  questions  are  involved,  are  qualified  to  speak  on  the 
subject  with  any  degree  of  authority.  All  the  best  quali- 
fied investigators  agree  that  the  evidence  already  obtained 
shows  conclusively  the  Cushite  or  Ethiopian  origin  of  Chal- 
dea.  A  note  which  Sir  Henry  Rawlinson  appends  to  his 
essay  on  the  "  Early  History  of  Babylonia"  speaks  on  this 
point  as  follows : 

"  All  the  traditions  of  Babylonia  and  Assyria  point  to  a 
connection,  in  very  early  times,  between  Ethiopia,  South- 
ern Arabia,  and  the  cities  on  the  Lower  Euphrates.  In  the 
geographical  lists,  the  names  of  Mirukh  (Ethiopia)  and 
Makkan  are  thus  always  conjoined  with  those  of  Hur  and 
Akkad.  The  building  of  Hur,  again,  is  the  earliest  histor- 
ical event  of  which  the  Babylonians  seem  to  have  had  any 
cognizance ;  but  the  inscriptions  constantly  refer  to  a  tra- 
dition of  the  primeval  leader  by  whom  the  Cushites  were 
first  settled  on  the  Euphrates,  and  one  of  the  names  of  this 
leader  is  connected  with  Ethiopia  in  a  way  that  can  hardly 
be  accidental." 

He  finds,  also,  that  the  early  Chaldeans  were  largely  de- 
voted to  maritime  pursuits  in  close  connection  with  the 
Ethiopians.  He  says,  in  the  volume  of  the  Royal  Geo- 
graphical Society's  Journal  already  quoted,  "  The  ships  of 
Ur,  at  any  rate,  are  constantly  mentioned  (by  the  inscrip- 


How  Ethiopia  is  misplaced.  193 

tions)  in  Connection  with  those  of  Ethiopia ;  and  there  is 
abundant  evidence,  among  the  remains  of  the  city  (Ur), 
of  the  worship  of  the  sea-god,  which  alone  would  indicate 
a  maritime  people,  and  which,  moreover,  is  in  exact  accord- 
ance with  the  early  traditions  preserved  by  Berosus." 

Is  it  not  absurd  to  seek  at  Meroe,  or  anywhere  else  on 
the  Upper  Nile,  for  the  maritime  Ethiopia  of  these  Chal- 
dean inscriptions?  If  every  competent  investigator  would 
allow  himself  to  see  and  comprehend  the  country  which 
the  ancients  designated  as  Ethiopia  and  the  Land  of  Gush, 
there  would  be  no  failure  to  recognise  Arabia  as  the  moth- 
er country  of  Chaldea ;  and  there  Avould  be  a  more  intelli- 
gent appreciation  of  the  large  amount  of  ancient  tradition 
which  brings  the  Cushites  into  that  part  of  Asia,  and  some- 
times describes  it  as  a  part  of  Ethiopia.  It  was  Ethiopian 
in  i*ace,  language,  and  civilization,  and  constituted  a  portion 
of  the  wide-spread  territory  occupied  by  the  Cushites, 
"  from  the  extremity  of  the  east  to  the  extremity  of  the 
west." 

Mr.  Loftus  states  the  common  opinion  of  investigators 
as  follows :  "  Recent  researches  made  in  the  interpretation 
of  the  cuneiform  inscriptions  have  led  to  the  belief  that, 
in  the  earliest  ages  previous  to  the  historic  period  which 
began  with  Nimrod,  the  region  north  of  the  Persian  Gulf 
was  inhabited  by  a  Semitic  race,  which  was  gradually  dis- 
possessed by  a  powerful  stream  of  invasion  or  colonization 
from  the  south.  The  Hamitic  (or  Cushite)  element  which 
prevails  in  the  most  ancient  cuneiform  records  throughout 
Babylonia  and  Susiana  points  to  Ethiopia  as  the  country 
of  these  new  settlers."  The  evidence  of  an  immigration 
from  the  south  seems  unequivocal,  and  the  immigrants  are 
everywhere  called  Akkadim ;  the  terms  Akkad  and  Akka- 

I 


Pre-Historic  Nations. 

dim  are  constantly  used  as  ethnic  designations,  and  Hebrew 
knowledge  of  them  appears  in  the  Akkad  or  Accad  of  Gen- 
esis. Tradition  says  these  settlers  came  first  in  ships,  and 
made  their  first  settlements  at  Ur  and  Erech ;  but  Mr. 
Loftus,  having  no  just  comprehension  of  Arabia,  and  fol- 
lowing the  "  common  opinion,"  brings  the  Cushite  immi- 
grants from  the  Upper  Nile  Valley,  across  both  the  Red 
Sea  and  the  Arabian  Peninsula. 

THE   CUSHITE   LANGUAGE   IN  CHALDEA. 

The  ruins  found  in  Southern  Arabia  belong  chiefly  to 
the  period  of  the  Himyaric  and  Sabean  nationalities,  which 
were  long  subsequent  to  the  great  ages  of  Cushite  suprem- 
acy. Some  of  them  are  very  old,  but  they  have  not  been 
so  carefully  explored  as  their  importance  demands.  The 
inscriptions  secured  by  the  researches  of  Wellsted,  Arnaud, 
Fresnel,  and  others,  have  furnished  important  materials  for 
linguistic  investigation — important  especially  in  connection 
with  studies  of  the  cuneiform  records.  Among  those  who 
have  given  them  careful  examination  are  Jules  Oppert  and 
other  French  Orientalists,  who  express  in  strong  terms  the 
result  indicated  by  Sir  Henry  Rawlinson.  They  see  clearly 
that  the  language  of  the  Arabian  inscriptions  is  genetically 
related  to  that  of  ancient  Chaldea.  Modem  dialects  of 
this  old  Cushite  tongue  are  still  spoken  in  some  districts 
of  Arabia  and  Eastern  Africa.  Fresnel  is  sure,  on  philo- 
logical grounds  alone,  that  the  original  Cushites  of  Chaldea 
were  immigrants  from  Arabia. 

These  investigations  have  interfered  with  Ernest  Kenan's 
theory  of  the  Semitic  languages  and  people,  as  set  forth  in 
the  first  edition  of  his  "  Histoire  Generate  des  Langues  Se- 
mitiques"  At  first  he  did  not  appear  to  recognise  the  ex- 


Renan  on  the  Cushite  Speech.  195 

istence  of  a  family  of  Ethiopian  or  Cushite  languages.  In 
this  omission,  however,  he  was  not  original.  This  family 
of  languages  has  not  stood  so  directly  in  the  path  of  inquiry 
as  to  command  immediate  attention.  Renan  had  not  stud- 
ied carefully  the  linguistic  peculiarities  of  every  branch  of 
the  people  whom  he  classed  as  Semites.  Like  many  others, 
he  had  failed  to  recognise  the  profound  difference  between 
the  old  Cushite  race  of  Arabia,  so  celebrated  in  the  olden 
time,  and  the  modern  Semitic  Arabs — a  difference  not  like- 
ly to  be  forgotten  when  once  fairly  observed. 

In  the  preface  to  his  second  edition  he  had  become  aware 
of  this  mistake;  probably  Oppert's  Chaldean  investiga- 
tions had  now  effectually  engaged  his  attention ;  at  any 
rate,  he  noticed  the  result  of  these  inquiries,  and  promised 
his  readers  an  essay,  in  which  he  would  "  attempt  to  estab* 
lish  that  it  is  necessary  to  admit  into  the  history  of  the 
civilization  of  the  ancient  world  a  third  element,  which  is 
neither  Semitic  nor  Aryan,  and  which  may  be  called  Ethi- 
opian or  Cushite."  It  was  quite  important  to  notice  Ham- 
let's part  in  the  play ;  but  others  before  him  had  failed  to 
discover  and  describe  it.  In  a  revision  of  the  text  of  his 
book  he  referred  to  the  explorations  and  studies  of  Arnaud, 
Fresnel,  and  Oppert,  and  said :  "  If  these  hypotheses  shall 
be  confirmed  by  a  more  complete  investigation,  it  will  be^ 
come  necessary  to  establish  a  group  of  Semitico-  Cushite 
languages,  including  the  Himyaric,  the  Gheez,  the  Mahri, 
and  the  language  of  the  Babylonian  inscriptions." 

Semitico-Cushite !  something  might  be  said  in  behalf  of 
Turano-  Cushite /  and  even  Aryo-  Cushite  might  find  sup- 
porters. Renan  and  others  will  probably  advance  beyond 
air  these  prefixes;  and  when  they  fully  discover  the  great 
race  that  did  more  than  any  other  to  originate  and  spread 


196  P re-Historic  Nations. 

the  civilization  of  the  ancient  world,  they  will  probably 
drop  them  all,  and  include  the  Egyptian,  the  Berber,  and 
some  of  the  dialects  of  Southeastern  Africa,  with  the  others 
named,  in  a  family  group  of  Cushite  tongues — a  family 
great  in  the  past,  but  of  which  we  now  have  only  the  per- 
ishing remains. 

POLITICAL   CHANGES   IX   ANCIENT   CHALDEA. 

In  the  very  long  period  that  must  be  allowed  for  the 
duration  of  Chaldea,  there  were  great  epochs  of  political 
change  and  reconstruction  of  which  no  history  can  be  writ- 
ten. These  epochs  are  indicated  in  the  list  of  Berosus  by 
the  changes  of  dynasty,  made  sometimes  by  successful  in- 
vasion from  abroad  and  sometimes  by  internal  revolution, 
and  in  the  cuneiform  records  by  evidence  of  changes  of 
dynasty  and  of  transfers  of  the  seat  of  government  from 
one  city  to  another.  Should  an  average  of  only  20  years 
each  be  allowed  to  the  163  kings  who  reigned  in  Chaldea 
previous  to  1273  B.C.,  excepting  the  Median  and  Arabi- 
an dynasties,  whose  time  is  given,  this  would  carry  back 
the  beginning  of  the  Chaldean  kingdom  of  their  time 
to  the  year  4662  B.C.  It  would  make  Chaldea  as  old  as 
Egypt,  which  cannot  be  deemed  improbable.  Great  epochs 
of  political  change  would  necessarily  occur  during  so  long 
a  period  of  time. 

The  first  86  kings  doubtless  represent  several  dynasties ; 
but  the  past  was  already  hazy  around  them  in  the  time  of 
Berosus,  and  had  been  so,  probably,  during  many  ages  pre- 
vious to  his  time.  The  succeeding  "  Median"  dynasty  rep- 
resents a  successful  invasion  from  abroad,  not,  however,  by 
the  "  Medes"  of  our  ancient  histories,  who  belong  to  a  much 
later  period.  There  have  been  various  conjectures  concern- 


Antiquity  of  Susiana.  197 

ing  this  word  "  Median,"  which  may  be  a  corrupt  form  of 
the  designation  used  by  Berosus.  Some  have  supposed 
these  invaders  were  "  Magians"  of  the  Aryan  race,  from 
the  north ;  with  a  greater  shoAV  of  probability,  I  may  sup- 
pose they  came  from  the  south  (led  by  the  celebrated  Ara- 
bian king  Zohak),  where  "Madian"  or  "Midian"  was  the 
name  of  an  important  branch  of  the  Arabian  Cushites. 
Did  the  prince  and  people  of  Susiana  take  the  lead  in  ex- 
pelling this  "Median"  dynasty?  and  was  Susiana  repre- 
sented by  the  next  dynasty  of  eleven  kings,  which  stands 
in  the  list  of  Berosus,  as  we  have  it,  without  national  des- 
ignation ? 

The  region  known  as  Susiana  was  politically  connected 
with  Chaldea  from  the  earliest  times.  It  was  occupied  by 
people  of  the  same  race,  who,  in  the  course  of  time,  may 
have  developed  a  Susianian  dialect  of  the  common  lan- 
guage. This  region  was  probably  included  in  the  district 
first  colonized  by  the  Cushites.  Its  ruins  are  of  great  an- 
tiquity, and  show  plainly  their  Cushite  origin.  Old  inscrip- 
tions have  been  found  in  the  ruins  of  Susa.  Sir  Henry 
Rawlinson  mentions  some  of  them,  giving  the  dates  accord- 
ing to  the  chronology  he  follows.  He  says :  "  The  inscrip- 
tions of  Susa,  for  the  most  part,  belong  to  the  8th  century 
B.C.,  the  kings  named  in  the  legends  being  contemporary 
with  Sennacherib,  Sargon,  and  their  immediate  predeces- 
sors. There  is,  however,  what  appears  to  be  a  date  in  the 
long  inscription  of  SutruJc  Ndkhunta  on  the  broken  obelisk 
at  Susa — two  sets  of  numbers  occurring,  which  may  be  read 
as  2445  and  2455.  If  these  numbers  ai-e  really  chronolog- 
ical, the  era  referred  to  will  be  nearly  3200  years  B.C." 

The  political  changes  that  made  Erech  a  royal  city,  and 
finally  transferred  the  seat  of  government  to  Nipur,  must 


198  jPre-Historic  Nations. 

have  occurred  during  the  time  of  the  first  86  kings.  The 
inscriptions  show  that  Erech  was  the  capital  during  two 
reigns — that  of  a  king  whose  name  is  given  as  Sin-shada, 
and  that  of  his  father.  There  seems  to  have  been  a  Sin 
dynasty ;  perhaps  all  the  kings  belonging  to  it  reigned  at 
Erech.  Probably  the  kingdom  of  Chaldea,  like  most  other 
Cushite  nationalities,  was  a  union  of  separate  municipali- 
ties, each  having  a  distinct  local  government  and  prince  of 
its  own,  as  it  is  now  in  the  Arabian  kingdom  of  Oman. 
Occasionally  one  of  these  local  princes,  elevated  to  com- 
manding importance  by  his  genius,  or  by  some  favoring 
condition  of  public  affairs,  may  have  taken  supreme  power 
into  his  own  hands. 

One  thing  is  shown  clearly  by  the  records  explored. 
Nipur,  the  great  city  which  had  originally  the  name  of 
Belus,  and  which  Greek  tradition  frequently  confounded 
with  the  later  city  of  Babylon,  was  the  capital  of  the  king- 
dom during  the  most  important  period  of  its  existence, 
and  perhaps  the  longest.  Sir  Henry  Rawlinson  thinks  the 
Tower  of  Babel  was  at  Nipur,  where,  at  the  present  time, 
"  the  remains  of  a  brick  tower  rise,  in  a  conical  form,  sev- 
enty feet  above  the  plain."  He  connects  Nimrod  with 
this  city,  and  says  one  of  its  ancient  names  was  Tel-Ami. 
Did  Nimrod  cause  or  direct  the  political  changes  that 
transferred  the  seat  of  government  to  Nipur?  The  inscrip- 
tions have  not  yet  answered  the  question,  and  there  is  no 
authentic  history  to  give  us  the  desired  information.  Let 
me  repeat,  however,  that  all  this  was  long  ages  previous  to 
the  time  when  the  later  Babylon  became  the  royal  city. 

Nimrod,  under  various  names,  is  celebrated  in  Cushite 
and  Semitic  traditions  in  such  a  manner  as  makes  it  cer- 
tain that  he  was  one  of  the  greatest  personages  in  early 


Nimrod  in  Chaldean  History.  199 

Chaldean  history.  All  we  know  of  him  with  certainty  is 
what  is  told  us  in  the  tenth  chapter  of  Genesis.  There  we 
learn  that  he  was  a  personage  who  rose  to  great  reputa- 
tion, which  became  proverbial :  "  Even  as  Nimrod,  the 
mighty  hunter  before  the  Lord."  He  is  set  before  us  as  a 
great  sovereign ;  and  the  record  says, "  The  beginning  of 
his  kingdom  was  Babel,  and  Erech,  and  Accad,  and  Cal- 
neh."  It  is  not  said  that  he  built  these  cities,  but  that  they 
were  "  the  beginning  of  his  kingdom."  It  is  usually  as- 
sumed that  Babel  here  means  Babylon.  This,  however,  is 
conjecture,  founded  on  supposed  identity  of  names.  The 
natural  inference  from  this  biblical  record,  taken  in  con- 
nection with  what  has  been  learned  from  the  inscriptions, 
is  that  Kimrod  caused  a  political  reconstruction  of  Chal- 
dea ;  that  he  began  the  work  by  taking  control  of  the  cities 
named;  and  that  he  won  supreme  authority  throughout 
the  whole  country.  Another  verse  in  the  same  chapter  in- 
timates that  he  showed  special  favor  to  the  Semitic  por- 
tion of  his  subjects,  and  gathered  them  together  in  cities. 
"  Out  of  that  land  went  forth  Asshur,"  or,  as  the  marginal 
reading  has  it,  "he  went  forth  into  Asshur,"  and  built 
the  Semitic  cities — Nineveh,  Rehoboth,  Calah,  and  Resen. 
This  was  the  beginning  of  Assyria.  It  may  be  that  Nim- 
rod  was  the  first  king  who  reigned  at  Nipur.  Some  iden- 
tify him  with  Belus,  reasoning  thus :  "  As  Bel  (Baal),  sig- 
nifying lord,  may  have  been  the  general  title  of  the  earliest 
kings,  so  Belus  and  Nimrod  can  easily  have  been  one  per- 
son." 

THE    YEAR    2234    B.C. 

I  have  already  called  attention  to  the  great  respect  paid 
to  the  year  2234  B.C.  by  our  writers  of  ancient  history.  It 
may  be  added  here  that  this  date  has  had  a  singular,  if  not 


200  1* re-Historic  Nations. 

unaccountable  influence  on  the  minds  of  some  learned  and 
eminent  archaeologists  who  have  sought  to  comprehend 
and  explain  the  Chaldean  and  Assyrian  antiquities.  Their 
aim  has  been  to  make  everything  in  that  part  of  Asia  be- 
gin with  this  year  2234  B.C.  .  That  particular  record  of  as- 
tronomical observations  made  in  Chaldea,  found  at  Baby- 
lon, and  sent  by  Callisthenes  to  Aristotle,  began  with  this 
date,  therefore  Chaldean  history  must  begin  with  it ;  no 
monument  of  that  land  must  be  more  ancient ;  the  dynastic 
list  of  Berosus  must  not  be  allowed  to  reach  farther  back 
into  the  past ;  we  must  reverently  accept  this  date  as  the 
chronological  limit  of  human  inquiry,  beyond  which  there 
is  nothing  but  thick  darkness  haunted  by  a  few  shapeless 
phantoms  of  fable.  No  hypothetical  scheme  of  the  ancient 
history  of  Chaldea,  that  seeks  honestly  to  comprehend  the 
monuments  and  the  list  of  Berosus,  can  be  liable  to  such 
absurdities  as  have  been  occasioned  by  this  infatuation  in 
regard  to  the  year  2234  B.C. 

If  Callisthenes  could  have  discovered  and  sent  to  Greece 
the  records  of  astronomical  observations  made  at  the  city 
of  Belns,  the  more  ancient  Babylon  of  Greek  tradition 
(which  in  its  ruins  is  called  Nipur),  the  royal  city  of  Chal- 
dea in  the  great  ages  of  Chaldean  civilization,  our  studies 
of  antiquity  would  not  be  troubled  by  this  infatuation. 
The  city  we  know  as  Babylon  was  not  important  until  the 
closing  period  of  the  old  kingdom  of  Chaldea.  It  is  as- 
sumed as  probable,  rather  than  shown  clearly,  that  it  was, 
even  in  this  period,  a  royal  city;  therefore  to  assume  that 
the  earliest  date  we  have  of  the  beginning  of  astronomical 
observations  in  that  city  is  the  oldest  date  in  the  history 
of  the  country  is  preposterous  beyond  expression.  The 
great  city  of  that  old  kingdom,  the  grand  metropolis  in  the 


The  more  modern  Babylon.  201 

ages  that  saw  the  highest  condition  of  its  civilization,  learn- 
ing, and  general  culture,  must  have  been  the  city  whose 
ruins  are  called  Nipur ;  and  the  most  brilliant  age  of  this 
city  must  have  been  as  far  beyond  the  year  2234  B.C.  as 
this  date  is  beyond  the  first  Greek  Olympiad ;  and  yet 
the  beginning  of  astronomical  observations  at  Nipur  it- 
self was  necessarily  later  than  the  beginning  of  the  king- 
dom, for  this  was  not  one  of  the  oldest  cities  of  Chaldea. 
As  a  royal  city  of  the  country,  it  seems  to  have  been  pre- 
ceded by  at  least  two  others — Ur  and  Erech. 

The  Greeks  tell  us  what  the  later  Babylon  was  in  the 
time  of  Nebuchadnezzar.  They  describe  its  marvelous  ex- 
tent and  magnificence  when  captured  by  Cyrus  the  Great. 
The  Hebrew  Scriptures  describe  the  city.  But  Nebuchad- 
nezzar was  one  monarch  of  a  brief  an<?  troubled  dynasty 
of  kings,  whose  whole  time  was  only  87  years,  and  the  first 
of  whom  did  not  appear  until  the  close  of  the  Assyrian  pe- 
riod, about  650  years  after  the  old  kingdom  of  Chaldea  had 
ceased  to  exist.  Neither  history,  nor  anything  discovered 
in  the  ruins,  tells  us  when  this  city  of  Babylon  was  found- 
ed. Stephanus  of  Byzantium,  in  his  work  on  celebrated 
cities,  indorsed  the  following  statement  of  an  older  writer : 
"  Babylon  was  not  built  by  Semiramis,  as  Herodotus  says, 
but  by  Babilon,  a  wise  man,  and  the  son  (or  descendant) 
of  the  all-wise  Belus ;  and  this  Babilon  lived,  as  Herinnius 
states,  2000  years  before  Semiramis."  I  cite  this  statement 
on  account  of  its  significance  in  one  respect,  which  should 
not  escape  attention.  It  assumes,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
that  the  great  antiquity  of  civilization  in  Chaldea  was  gen- 
erally recognised  by  those  to  whom  it  was  addressed.  For 
the  rest,  as  Semiramis  was  supposed  to  have  lived  about 
1250  years  before  Christ,  this  old  record,  if  it  should  be  ac- 

12 


202  Pre-IIiatoric  Nations. 

cepted  as  authentic,  would  show  that  Babylon  was  founded 
about  3250  B.C. 

Could  we  have  a  complete  copy  of  the  Chaldean  History 
of  Berosus,  it  would  probably  make  clear  many  things  now 
involved  in  obscurity.  It  might  enable  us  to  see  when, 
and  under  what  circumstances,  Nipur,  the  ancient  city  of 
Belus,  was  made  the  seat  of  government.  It  could  hardly 
fail  to  explain  the  circumstances  that  interrupted  the  Chal- 
dean succession,  and  brought  in  the  dynasty  called  "  Me- 
dian." We  might  or  might  not  learn  from  that  history 
that  the  more  modern  Babylon  became  the.  capital  at  the 
beginning  of  the  dynasty  of  49  kings,  not  less  than  2500 
B.C.  Meanwhile  there  is  not  a  trace  of  evidence  to  show 
or  suggest  that  any  king  of  Chaldea  began  to  reign  in  the 
year  2234  B.C.,  or  that  anything  Chaldean  began  with  this 
date  save  the  records  found  by  Callisthenes.  „ 

CONCERNING   AN   OLD   CHALDEAN   TEMPLE. 

One  fact  revealed  by  the  cuneiform  inscriptions  awakens 
some  sense  of  the  great  antiquity  of  Chaldea.  The  most 
ancient  royal  name  discovered  is  given  doubtfully,  as 
Urukh,  Urkham,  or  Orchamus.  The  inscriptions  celebrate 
this  king  as  a  worshipper  of  Beltis  and  a  builder  of  tem- 
ples. In  the  ages  previous  to  his  reign,  when  the  great 
temple  of  Erech  was  built,  that  temple  was  consecrated  to 
the  worship  of  Ana,  and  Ana  was  the  presiding  deity  of 
the  city.  But  time  works  changes.  At  length  the  wor- 
ship of  Ana  in  that  temple  was  superseded  by  that  of  Bel- 
tis, the  temple  still  retaining,  as  one  of  its  names,  the  ap- 
pellation Bit-Ana,  house  of  Ana,  and  in  later  inscriptions 
Beltis  being  called  "  the  Lady  of  Bit- Ana,"  which  continued 
to  show  its  original  consecration.  There  is  nothing  to  give 


A  Quotation  from  Ovid.  203 

us  the  date  of  Urukh's  reign ;  but  he  was  one  of  the  great 
kings  of  Ur,  it  is  said,  and  therefore  belonged  to  an  early 
period  of  the  kingdom.  That  change  in  the  temple  wor- 
ship at  Erech  must  have  taken  place  in  his  time,  or  at  some 
period  previous  to  his  reign;  but  it  could  not  take  place 
during  the  first  day,  or  year,  or  century  after  the  temple 
was  built.  Many  ages  of  experience,  thought,  and  change 
were  undoubtedly  required  to  make  such  a  religious  rev- 
olution possible;  therefore  it  shows  plainly  that  a  very 
long  period  in  the  history  of  Chaldea  must  have  passed 
previous  to  the  beginning  of  Urukh's  reign.  In  connection 
with  what  the  ruins  say  of  this  king,  two  lines  are  quoted 
from  Ovid's  Metamorphoses  (iv.,  212,  213),  in  which  an  Or- 
chamus  is  described  as  the  seventh  successor  of  Belus  : 
"  Rexit  Achaemenias  urbes  pater  Orchamus,  isque 
Septimus  a  prisci  numeratur.  origine  Beli. " 

Is  this  a  confused  reference  to  the  Orchamus,  or  Urukh, 
whose  name  and  something  of  whose  history  is  shown  us 
in  the  old  ruins  of  Chaldea  ?  Very  doubtful.  Ovid's  Met- 
amorphoses are  not  history,  and  it  may  be  added  that  very 
queer  results  must  have  followed  any  attempts  of  that  au- 
thor to  write  history;  but  Ovid  had  some  rare  learning, 
and  in  early  life  he  traveled  in  Asia.  In  his  time  there 
were  Asiatics,  and  some  centuries  previous  to  his  time 
there  were  Greeks,  who  could  have  collected  ample  mate- 
rials for  a  correct  outline  of  the  history  of  Chaldea  previ- 
ous to  the  rise  of  Babylon.  The  annals  and  archives  of  the 
old  kingdom  were,  to  a  great  extent,  still  preserved  in  ex- 
isting temples.  In  the  third  century  before  Christ,  the 
temple  of  Belus  at  Babylon,  partly  in  ruins,  furnished  such 
materials  for  that  work  of  Berosus,  which  the  Greeks  and 
Romans  allowed  to  perish. 


204  Pre-Historic  Nations. 


•     ASSYRIA    AND   THE    SEMITIC    EACE. 

The  Assyrian  empire  began  with  the  expulsion  of  the 
Arabian  dynasty  from  Babylon  in  1273  B.C.  A  small  king- 
dom of  Assyria  existed  previous  to  this  time.  An  Assyr- 
ian canon,  found  by  Sir  Henry  Rawlinson,  and  also  the 
canon  of  Ptolemy,  carries  back  the  history  of  Assyria  to 
the  year  1650  B.C.,  which  is  132  years  previous  to  the  Ara- 
bian invasion.  The  obvious  explanation  is,  that  "  Assyria 
as  an  independent  kingdom  was  the  natui*al  antecedent  of 
Assyria  as  an  imperial  power."  In  the  earlier  ages,  As- 
syria was  a  province  of  the  old  Chaldean  empire,  governed 
by  satraps,  four  of  whose  legends,  bearing  their  names  and 
titles,  have  been  found  at  Kileh-Shergat*  The  "  Arabian" 
dynasty  doubtless  represented  princes  of  one  of  the  sepa- 
rate kingdoms  into  which  Arabia  had  become  divided.  Its 
territory  probably  adjoined  that  of  Babylonia.  Wo  may 
suppose  that  Assyria  Jed  the  movement  by  which  the  Ara- 
bians were  expelled,  and  from  this  beginning  went  on  to 
become  an  empire.  Babylonia  was  a  province  of  the  As- 
syrian empire  for  650  years,  sometimes  in  rebellion,  and 
never  held  in  very  rigid  subjection,  its  vassalage  at  times 
being  little  more  than  nominal.  Sennacherib's  inscription 
at  Bavian  shows  that,  in  the  year  1110  B.C.,  its  princes 
waged  successful  war  against  Assyria,  and  defeated  Tig- 
lath-Pileser  in  a  great  battle. 

It  seems  every  way  probable  that  Mesopotamia,  and  per- 
haps the  whole  region  from  Susa  and  Assyria  to  Syria,  was 
occupied  by  uncivilized  Semites  when  the  Arabian  Cush- 
ites  first  appeared  there.  They  were  very  likely  a  noni3<l- 
ic  people,  divided  into  tribes,  who  yielded  without  a  strug- 
gle to  the  enterprising  and  powerful  race  that  brought 


Linguistic  changes  in  Chaldea.         •     205 

them  civilization.  They  were  dispossessed,  crowded  into 
a  few  isolated  communities,  or  incorporated  with  the  inva- 
ders. Their  language  disappeared,  to  a  great  extent,  be- 
fore the  Cushites  from  the  south,  and  the  Aryans  from 
Central  Asia  who  came  later,  being  preserved  only  in  the 
"  Land  of  Asshur"  and  in  some  districts  farther  west. 

The  Assyrian  empire,  which  was  great  in  extent  and 
very  powerful  during  nearly  seven  centuries,  wrought  an- 
other change.  It  restored  the  Semitic  language,  creating 
the  Aramaic  form  of  it.  Rawlinson,  speaking  of  the  Cush- 
ite  character  and  language  of  the  old  Chaldeans,  says :  "  It 
can  be  proved  from  the  inscriptions  of  the  country  that 
between  the  date  of  the  first  establishment  of  a  Chaldean 
kingdom  and  the  reign  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  the  language 
of  Lower  Mesopotamia  underwent  an  entire  change."  The 
Cushite  tongue  disappeared,  and  the  Aramaic  took  its  place. 
The  influence  of  this  Semitizing  transformation  proceeded 
westward,  encountering  effective  resistance  only  where  it 
reached  established  communities  of  the  Aryans.  The  mar- 
velous vigor  of  the  Cushite  race  was  passing  away ;  the 
Aryan  race  was  becoming  imperial,  and  preparing  to  fill 
the  world  with  its  influence. 

A   THEORY    OF   THE    CHALDEANS. 

I  must  not  leave  the  Chaldeans  without  noticing  a  sin- 
gular theory  touching  their  origin  and  character,  which 
has  found  supporters,  and  is  repeated  in  Ernest  Kenan's 
work  on  the  Semitic  languages.  This  theory  locates  Ur 
of  the  Chaldees  in  the  mountains  of  Kurdistan,  and  de- 
scribes the  Chaldeans  as  a  tribe  of  bold  and  vigorous  moun- 
taineers, who  came  into  Babylonia  as  mercenary  soldiers 
or  favored  immigrants  used  for  protection,  and  speedily 


206  Pre-HistoriG  Nations. 

rose  to  be  an  aristocratic  class  of"  philosophers,  naturalists, 
or  soothsayers,  whose  principal  employment  was  the  study 
of  mathematics  and  astronomy."  They  were  simply  a 
caste  in  the  nation,  says  this  hypothesis,  not  the  nation  it- 
self. Renan  thinks  the  Chaldeans  belonged  to  the  Aryan 
race,  and  describes  the  Kurds  as  modern  Chaldeans.  See 
his  volume  published  in  1863,  book  first,  chapter  second. 

Those  who  begin  history  in  that  part  of  Asia  with  the 
Assyrians,  placing  them  at  Babylon  in  the  year  2234  B.C., 
very  naturally  find  the  Chaldeans  involved  in  a  mystery 
difficult  to  explain.  Their  culture  and  knowledge  were  so 
superior  to  those  of  the  Semites  that  they  could  not  cease 
to  furnish  the  foremost  scholars  and  teachers  even  when 
the  political  supremacy  of  Chaldea  yielded  to  the  Assyrian 
empire.  Therefore,  to  those  who  have  failed  to  see  the 
older  nation  they  represented,  they  have  seemed  to  be  a 
distinct  class,  a  learned  and  powerful  caste  in  the  Baby- 
lonian or  Assyrian  nation  of  later  times.  Not  aware  of 
the  old  kingdom  of  Chaldea,  and  eager  to! solve  the  mys- 
tery, they  see  nothing  preposterous  in  this  theory.  To  un- 
dertake a  formal  refutation  of  it  cannot  be  necessary.  In 
the  light  of  our  present  knowledge  of  Mesopotamian  antiq- 
uity, it  seems  more  like  the  production  of  a  fantastic  dream 
than  the  work  of  thoughtful  inquiry.  All  antiquity  shows 
us  Chaldea  and  the  Chaldeans  in  Lower  Mesopotamia. 
The  Hebrew  Scriptures  place  "  Ur  of  the  Chaldees"  in  that 
region ;  and  the  ruins  inform  us  that  this  city  was  situated 
on  the  Euphrates,  near  the  Persian  Gulf. 

CONCERNING   CHALDEAN   ANCIENT   HISTORY. 

According  to  Berosus,  there  were  163  kings  of  Chaldea 
previous  to  the  year  1273  B.C.,  when  the  Assyrian  empire 


\ 


Chaldean  Chronology.  207 

rose  and  made  that  country  one  of  its  tributary  provinces. 
Eight  of  these  kings  formed  a  "  Median"  dynasty,  which 
lasted  224  years ;  and  nine  of  them  formed  the  Arabian 
dynasty,  which  ruled  Chaldea  245  years.  Now,  if  we  allow 
each  of  the  remaining  146  kings  a  reign  of  twenty  years, 
the  whole  tune  of  all  the  dynasties  will  be  3389  years  pre- 
vious to  1273  B.C.;  and  the  beginning  of  their  time  will 
be  placed  in  the  year  4662  B.C.,  when  Upper  and  Lower 
Egypt  flourished  as  separate  and  independent  countries, 
Menes  not  yet  having  appeared  to  unite  them.  This  esti- 
mate is  moderate ;  the  average  is  below  that  of  the  "  Me- 
dian" and  "  Arabian"  dynasties  of  kings,  whose  number 
and  time  are  both  given.  It  will  not  be  denied  that,  ac- 
cording to  the  testimony  of  Berosus,  the  86  kings  of  the 
first  dynasty  represent  a  great  period  of  very  ancient  his- 
tory in  Chaldea ;  the  Old  Kingdom  of  the  country,  the  first 
ages  of  national  existence,  of  which  he  could  give  no  his- 
tory. A  complete  copy  of  his  Chaldean  History  might 
show  that  he  had  not  only  their  names,  but  also  a  chro- 
nology of  their  time ;  and  perhaps  it  would  explain  what 
was  meant  by  the  cyclical  additions  which,  included  in 
their  time,  extended  it  to  34,080  years. 

Bunsen  finds  the  point  of  separation  between  the  myth- 
ical and  the  earliest  historical  periods  by  deducting  from 
the  34,080  years  the  nine  complete  sari  (astronomical  cy- 
cles of  3600  years  each).  The  remaining  1680  years  he  re- 
gards as  the  actual  historical  time  of  the.  86  kings,  to  which 
the  nine  sari  were  prefixed.  These  1680  years,  being  the 
fragment  of  a  sari,  have  no  cyclical  significance,  and,  there- 
fore, cannot  be  any  part  of  the  cyclical  contrivance.  They 
give  the  86  kings  an  average  of  nearly  twenty  years  each. 
It  must  be  observed,  however,  that  during  the  time  of  these 


208  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

kings  the  Chaldeans  computed  by  lunar  years ;  after  the 
time  of  the  "Median"  dynasty  they  reckoned  by  solar 
years.  In  dealing  with  a  later  period  of  Chaldean  history,- 
Bunsen's  methods  are  less  reasonable  and  his  conclusions 
much  less  satisfactory.  Even  Bunsen  did  not  wholly  es- 
cape the  glamour  of  the  year  2234  B.C.  He  saw  clearly, 
and  said  strongly,  that  Chaldean  civilization  Avas  much 
older  than  this  date ;  yet,  unlike  most  other  writers  on 
Chaldean  chronology,  he  constrained  the  "  Median"  dynas- 
ty to  begin  with  it,  and  thus  crowded  the  subsequent  dy- 
nasties within  still  narrower  limits.  This  has  no  warrant 
of  probability.  It  is  inadmissible.  Dismiss  all  this,  strip 
the  year  2234  B.C.  of  its  preposterous  pretensions,  and  give 
the  later  Chaldean  dynasties  such  space  in  time  as  the 
number  of  kings  on  the  list  of  Berosus  so  plainly  demands, 
and  the  beginning  of  the  first  dynasty  cannot,  on  any 
ground,  reason,  or  probability,  be  placed  later  than  4500 
B.C. 

We  can  sec,  in  what  Berosus  says  of  the  history  of  Chal- 
dea,  that  it  was  divided  into  two  great  periods,  very  dis- 
tinct from  each  other,  and  as  completely  separated  as  the 
Old  Monarchy  and  the  New  Monarchy  of  Egypt.  The 
first  is  the  period  of  the  86  kings,  which  began  with  the 
royal  city  at  Ur,  and  was  brought  to  a  close  after  the  seat 
of  government  had  for  a  long  time  been  at  Nipur,  by  an 
invasion  from  abroad,  which  overthrew  the  government 
and  established  that  "  Median"  dynasty.  The  next  dynas- 
ty of  eleven  kings  may  have  represented  the  princes  of  Su- 
siana,  elevated  to  supreme  power  by  their  successful  lead- 
ership in  expelling  the  "  Median"  power.  The  second  great 
period  of  Chaldean  history,  the  "  New  Monarchy  of  Clial- 
dea,"  so  to  speak,  may  have  begun  with  the  dynasty  of  49 


First  Ages  of  Chaldea.  209 

kings.  It  was  terminated  by  a  powerful  invasion  of  the 
"Arabians,"  who  ruled  the  country  until  the  rise  of  the 
empire  of  the  Assyrians. 

HYPOTHETICAL   SCHEME    OP   CHALDEAN   HISTORY. 

A  hypothetical  scheme  of  the  history  of  Chaldea,  based 
on  the  list  of  Berosus  and  the  results  of  modern  research, 
may  serve  to  aid  the  mind  in  tentative  efforts  to  realize  and 
reconstruct  the  past.  Of  course,  it  will  not  claim  to  be  au- 
thentic history  ;  but  it  will  have  more  to  command  respect, 
and  be  every  way  more  credible  than  any  scheme  that 
trifles  with  what  is  known  by  beginning  the  national  exist- 
ence of  Chaldea  in  the  year  2234  B.C.,  with  the  city  we 
know  as  Babylon  for  the  seat  of  government.  Every  read- 
er will  understand  that  the  followkig  scheme  is  hypothesis, 
and  judge  of  its  probability  for  himself. 

1.  At  the  beginning  of  Chaldean  national  existence,  and 
in  the  first  ages  of  the  country,  the  royal  city  was  TJr,  or 
Ilur.  This  city  was  then  situated  at  the  mouth  of  the  Eu- 
phrates, but  now,  in  its  ruins,  is  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles 
above  the  mouth  of  that  river,  the  Persian  Gulf  having 
been  filled  up  to  this  extent  by  accumulations  of  alluvium. 
During  the  previous  colony  and  provincial  times  Ur  had 
become  a  great  commercial  emporium — a  grand  centre  of 
power.  At  this  early  period  the  more  important  cities  and 
communities  were  at  the  south,  between  the  rivers  and  in 
Susiana.  Ur  very  naturally  became  the  political  as  well 
as  the  commercial  metropolis,  and  must  have  remained  so 
for  a  long  time,  until  the  northern  part  of  the  country  was 
filled  with  inhabitants,  and  its  relations  with  the  interior 
countries  of  Asia  became  important.  Ur  may  have  contin- 
ued to  be  the  royal  city  during  some  twenty-five  reigns,  or 


210  Pre-IIistoric  Nations. 

until  about  4150  B.C.,  when  some  great  political  change 
may  have  transferred  the  seat  of  government  to  Erech. 

2.  At  Erech  there  may  have  been  ten  reigns,  from  4150 
to  3950  B.C.     The  names  of  two  kings  who  reigned  at 
Erech,  one  after  the  other,  have  been  found  in  the  ruins  of 
that  city.    They  were  father  and  son.     One  of  their  names 
is  given  as  Sin-shada ;  the  other  has  not  been  phonetically 
rendered.     We  may  reasonably  conjecture  that,  for  some 
reason,  to  be  explained  only  by  circumstances  of  which  we 
have  no  knowledge,  Erech  was  made  the  royal  seat  of  a 
dynasty  to  which  these  kings  belonged.     The  period,  after 
the  seat  of  government  left  Ur  and  before  it  was  estab- 
lished at  Nipur,  may  have  been  unsettled  and  changeful, 
so  far  as  relates  to  the  ruling  dynasty.     There  may  have 
been  more  than  one  change  of  dynasty  during  this  period, 
and  more  than  one  royal  city ;  but,  whatever  may  have 
been  the  political  condition  of  the  country  at  that  time, 
there  came  a  great  epoch  of  change  and  reconstruction, 
which  established  the  seat  of  government  at  Nipur.     The 
personage  called  Nimrod  in  the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  and 
the  "  beginning"  of  whose  kingdom  "  was  Babel,  and  Erech, 
and  Accad,  and  Calneh,"  may  have  flourished  at  this  time. 

3.  At  Nipur,  the  city  of  Belus,  we  may  suppose  there 
were  fifty-one  kings,  in  several  dynasties,  previous  to  the 
"  Median"  invasion ;  that  is  to  say,  from  3950  to  about 
2950  B.C.,  a  thousand  years.     In  this  period  must  have 
been  the  great  ages  of  Chaldean  civilization,  culture,  and 
power.     It  was  the  period  of  the  first  eight  or  nine  dynas- 
ties of  the  Old  Monarchy  of  Egypt,  when  the  civilization 
of  that  country  reached  its  grandest  development.     Other 
civilized  countries  of  great  importance  must  have  been  con- 
temporary with  the  Chaldea  of  that  period,  not  only  in  Ara- 


End  of  the  Old  Monarchy.  211 

bia,  Africa,  and  on  the  Mediterranean,  but  also  in  India,  and 
in  the  neighboring  parts  of  Asia,  where  a  people  of  the  Ary- 
an race,  in  very  remote  times,  had  a  great  kingdom,  of  which 
Balkh  was  the  capital.  Many  of  the  Greek  traditions  con- 
cerning Chaldea,  inherited  probably  from  the  older  peoples 
whom  they  succeeded,  must  refer  to  this  period,  and  to  the 
great  city,  now  called  Nipur,  still  so  remarkable  in  its  ruins. 
About  the  year  2950  B.C.  this  old  Chaldean  monarchy  was 
brought  to  a  close,  probably  as  other  monarchies  have 
reached  this  fortune,  after  some  ages  of  decline.  The  coun- 
try wras  invaded,  the  government  was  broken  down,  and  the 
nation  submitted  to  the  sway  of  a  dynasty  of  foreign  kings 
described  as  "Median." 

4.  These  "  Median"  rulers  filled  a  period  between  ancient 
Chaldea  and  the  later  kingdom,  which  is  usually  called  Bab- 
ylonia, just  as  the  Hyksos  in  Egypt  filled  the  time  between 
the  Old  and  the  New  Monarchies.  Berosus  says  their  do- 
minion lasted  224  years.  It  was  still  in  existence  long  after 
all  those  were  dead  who  had  seen  the  time  of  the  last  native 
king.  There  must  have  been  differences,  to  some  extent, 
between  the  later  Babylonian  Chaldea  and  that  more  an- 
cient kingdom.  We  cannot  reasonably  suppose  that  the 
Chaldean  people,  under  the  first  king  in  the  next  dynasty 
of  native  sovereigns,  still  used  precisely  the  same  form  of 
their  language  in  which  the  latest  annals  of  the  old  king- 
dom had  been  written.  If  the  successful  invaders  did  not 
destroy  the  Chaldean  books,  and  seek  to  obscure  all  recol- 
lections of  the  great  history  of  the  country,  time  and  lin- 
guistic change  must  have  so  altered  the  current  speech  of 
the  people  that  the  old  writings  had  become  unreadable 
to  all  save  adepts  at  the  beginning  of  that  dynasty  of  49 
kings,  which,  there  is  some  reason  to  believe,  established 


212  Pre- Historic  Nations. 

the  seat  of  government  at  Babylon.  There  must  have  been 
other  changes  that  gave  the  period  of  these  kings  a  dis- 
tinctive individuality ;  it  was  the  same  people,  but  not  the 
same  nation.  Some  writers,  not  finding  a  suggestion  for 
any  other  hypothesis,  have  supposed  the  "Median"  kings 
represented  invaders  from  the  north — Turanians,  Aryans, 
or  some  other  northern  people.  This  ethnic  term,  supposed 
by  some  to  be  a  corruption  of  the  word  used  by  Berosus, 
was  probably  used  by  him  to  describe  some  branch  of  the 
Arabian  people,  or  some  princely  family  of  Arabia,  who 
governed  Chaldea  under  the  sway  of  the  celebrated  Ara- 
bian, conqueror,  Zohak,  as  I  have  already  explained. 

5.  The  next  dynasty  of  eleven  kings,  on  the  hypothesis 
of  20  years  to  each  king,  must  have  lasted  220  years,  or 
from  about  2726  to  2506  B.C.     If  it  represented  princes  of 
Susiana,  who  led  a  rising  of  the  people  that  overthrew  and 
expelled  the  "Median"  power,  the  seat  of  government  dur- 
ing the  time  of  this  dynasty  must  have  been  at  Susa.    The 
supposition  that  these  eleven  kings  were  Susianian  princes 
is  the  most  probable  I  can  suggest.     In  the  list  of  Berosus, 
as  we  have  it  now,  they  are  without  ethnical  or  national 
designation ;  but  they  stand  by  themselves,  entirely  sepa- 
rate from  the  preceding  "Medians"  and  the  following  49 
Chaldean   sovereigns.     We  may,  therefore,  suppose  they 
represent  a  distinct  period  of  the  transition  from  the  down- 
fall of  the  old  Chaldean  monarchy  to  the  permanent  estab- 
lishment  of  the   new   monarchy  under  native  Chaldean 
princes,  with  the  seat  of  government  at  the  city  known  to 
us  as  Babylon. 

6.  The  49  Chaldean  kings  on  the  list  of  Berosus  are  as- 
sociated with  the  second  great  period  in  the  history  of 
Chaldea.     An  average  of  twenty  years  to  each  of  these 


Time  of  the  later  Kingdom.  213 

kings  gives  980  years ;  and  the  time  from  2506  B.C.  to  1518 
B.C.,  the  year  in  which  the  rule  of  the  Arabian  dynasty 
began,  is  986  years.  Berosus  must  have  given  a  complete 
history  of  this  period,  for  he  himself  states  that  the  mate- 
rials for  his  work  were  the  old  archives  and  historical  rec- 
ords deposited  in  the  temple  of  Belus  at  Babylon,  where 
annals  had  been  written  from  age  to  age,  and  carefully  pre- 
served by  the  priests.  He  was  one  of  the  priests  of  that 
temple,  and  had  unobstructed  access  to  all  these  docu- 
ments. How  could  the  Greeks  receive  his  work  with  so 
little  attention,  and  allow  it  to  perish !  During  the  time 
of  these  49  kings,  Babylon  seems  to  have  been  the  centre 
of  a  great  commercial  intercourse  with  Upper  Asia,  India, 
Arabia,  and  the  countries  on  the  Mediterranean.  It  be- 
came the  metropolitan  city  of  Southwestern  Asia,  and  had 
in  it  a  remarkable  mixture  of  races  and  tongues — Cushite, 
Semitic,  Aryan,  Turanian,  and  others,  perhaps  —  in  which 
most  of  their  dialects  and  varying  shades  of  difference  were 
represented.  Chaldea  was  still  a  grand  and  famous  coun- 
try, eminent  for  its  culture,  wealth,  and  influence ;  but 
finally  the  sceptre  departed,  and  Chaldean  supremacy  was 
broken  down  by  an  invasion  from  Arabia. 

7.  The  Arabian  dynasty  of  nine  kings  lasted  245  years, 
from  1518  to  1273  B.C.  During  this  time  Assyria  and  Su- 
siana  were  probably  separate  and  independent,  though  not 
of  great  importance.  An  uncertain  Greek  tradition  speaks 
of  an  Ethiopian  prince,  called  Memnon,  and  described  as 
son  of  a  king  of  Susa,  who  is  said  to  have  led  an  army  to 
aid  his  uncle  Priam  in  the  Trojan  "War.  Much  more  trust- 
worthy is  the  testimony  of  Sir  Henry  Rawlinson,  that  an 
Assyrian  canon  found  by  him  carries  back  the  independent 
existence  of  Assyria  to  the  year  1650  B.C.  I  have  already 


214  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

suggested  that  this  second  conquest  of  Chaldea  was  prob- 
ably made  by  an  Arabian  sovereign  known  as  Schamar- 
larasch,  who  is  said  to  have  extended  his  conquests  far  into 
Central  Asia,  and  whose  inscriptions  at  Samarcand  are  men- 
tioned by  certain  Mahometan  writers.  I  find  no  reason 
to  modify  this  suggestion,  and  have  no  doubt  of  its  cor- 
rectness. 

The  most  probable  explanation  of  the  rise  of  Assyria,  from 
the  condition  of  a  small  kingdom  to  that  of  an  extensive 
and  powerful  empire,  is,  that  about  1273  B.C.  the  Arabian 
kings  were  dispossessed  and  driven  out  of  Chaldea  by  a 
revolutionary  movement  stimulated  and  supported  by  the 
princes  of  that  country.  It  is  certain  that  the  Arabians 
were  expelled  at  that  time,  and  that  there  were  great  polit- 
ical changes  which  made  Assyria  an  empire,  and  gave  it 
control  of  that  part  of  Asia  for  nearly  seven  centuries. 

Those  who  may  be  disposed  to  accept  this  scheme  for  a 
hypothetical  reconstruction  of  Chaldean  history  as  sub- 
stantially warranted  by  probability,  will  very  likely  sug- 
gest important  modifications.  The  more  they  reflect  on 
the  subject,  the  more  will  they  see  that  something  like  this 
general  outline  is  required  by  what  has  been  learned  of  the 
antiquity  and  ancient  condition  of  that  country  from  Bero- 
sus,  and  by  means  of  archaeological  investigation.  Those 
who  may  allow  themselves  to  object,  criticise,  and  discred- 
it this  scheme,  should  turn  their  attention  more  carefully 
to  the  absurdities,  incredible  theories,  audacious  "  emenda- 
tions" and  "  revisions"  of  facts,  and  unwarranted  assump- 
tions which  they  must  indorse  if  they  reject  it.  The 
scheme  I  have  presented  is  more  reasonable,  and,  I  will  add, 
much  more  truthful,  than  r.ny  arbitrary  scheme  that 


Dogmatic  Chronology.  215 

emends,  reduces,  and  falsifies  the  list  of  Berosus,  and  modi- 
fies or  misinterprets  facts  in  favor  of  dogmatic  chronology. 
Nothing  is  so  liable  to  absurd  exhibitions  of  credulity  and 
unreason  as  morbid  skepticism  directed  by  invincible  prej- 
udice. 


VI. 

INDIA,  SANSKRIT  AND  ANTE  SANSKRIT. 

THE  Greeks  and  Romans  described  as  India  the  whole 
region  beyond  the  Indus,  including  in  it  Hindustan,  Bur- 
mah,  Cochin  China,  Siara,  and  Malacca,  with  the  islands  of 
the  Indian  Archipelago.  Their  knowledge  of  that  region 
was  very  imperfect;  but  then,  as  in  later  times,  it  had 
strange  power  to  enchant  imagination,  seeming  to  be  a 
marvelous  land  of  riches,  magnificence,  and  everything  rare 
and  wondrous.  Even  in  modern  times,  the  influence  of 
this  enchantment  has  led  some  learned  and  enthusiastic 
writers  to  describe  India  as  the  primal  source  of  all  knowl- 
edge and  culture,  the  'radiant  morning-land  of  human  civ- 
ilization. 

The  name  India,  however,  is  most  commonly  restricted 
to  the  great  peninsula  known  in  our  geographies  as  Hindu- 
stan ;  and  it  is  this  land  that  has  presented  so  much  both 
to  incite  the  genius  of  romance  and  engage  the  attention 
of  scholars.  It  is  separated  into  two  great  divisions  by  a 
chain  of  mountains  running  east  and  west,  called  the  Vind- 
hya  Mountains.  Strictly  speaking,  the  northern  division, 
including  the  vast  and  fertile  valley  of  the  Ganges,  is  Hin- 
dustan, the  land  of  the  Hindus;  while  the  southern  divis- 
ion is  known  as  the  Dakshin,  the  south  country,  a  name 
which  the  English  have  transformed  into  Deccan.  The 
conquests  of  Alexander  the  Great  gave  the  Greeks  some 
knowledge  of  the  northern  division  of  the  country.  At 


India  not  cJdeJly  Sanskrit.  217 

that  time  its  civilization  was  very  old,  and  presented  clear 
indications  of  a  long  and  important  history. 

We  are  accustomed  to  associate  India  with  the  Sanskrit 
race  and  the  Brahmanical  system  of  religion ;  but  this  gives 
a  very  imperfect  knowledge  of  the  country.  The  Sanskrit 
literature,  the  superior  culture  of  the  Brahmans,  and  the 
prominence  of  their  race  among  the  Indian  peoples,  have 
naturally  drawn  attention  chiefly  to  the  Hindus  or  Indo- 
Aryans ;  and  yet  it  may  be  doubted  whether  the  unmixed 
In  do-  Aryans  were  not  always  a  small  minority  of  the  whole 
population  of  India.  All  over  the  country,  at  the  north  as 
well  as  in  the  south,  th<*re  are  communities  and  dialects 
that  do  not  belong  to  the  Sanskrit  race.  The  people  of 
this  race  were  a  long  time  in  Northern  India,  and  had  a 
long  history  there,  before  they  attempted  to  establish  them- 
selves in  the  country  south  of  the  Yindhya  Mountains  ^ 
they  have  never  at  any  time  occupied  the  south  country  as 
they  occupied  the  Punjab  and  the  valley  of  the  Ganges. 

The  old  race  constitute  the  great  majority  of  the  popu- 
lation of  the  Dakshin  as  well  as  of  many  districts  of  North- 
ern India,  and  they  still  use  dialects  of  a  language  radical- 
ly different  from  the  Sanskrit.  The  languages  of  Southern 
India,  called  the  Dravidian  family,  and  the  aboriginal  dia- 
lects throughout  Central  India,  cannot  be  classed  in  the 
same  family  with  the  Sanskrit.  The  old  books  of  the  Hin- 
dus recognise  the  two  distinct  races ;  and  they  tell  us  that 
the  original  Indo- Aryans  were  white,  while  the  people  they 
found  in  India  were  "dark-skinned."  There  are  now  no 
white  Aryans  in  India  save  the  English  and  other  Euro- 
pean residents.  The  original  Sanskrit  whiteness  was  mixed 
with  the  darker  color  of  the  native  inhabitants  long  before 
Alexandei''s  time. 

K 


21 S  Pre-Historic 


THE  IXDO-ARYANS  PRECEDED  BY  THE  CUSHITES. 

It  can  be  seen  distinctly  in  the  antiquities  of  India,  and 
in  the  religious  ideas,  customs,  and  symbols  of  the  peoples 
who  represent  the  oldest  inhabitants,  that  when  the  Indo- 
Aryans  entered  that  country,  it  had  for  a  long  time  been 
occupied  by  the  Arabian  Cushites.  There  are  strong  rea- 
sons for  believing  that  the  Cushites  found  the  country  in- 
habited by  a  dark-colored  race,  similar,  perhaps,  to  the  Ma- 
lays, and  to  the  people  found  on  most  of  the  islands  of  the 
Indian  and  Pacific  Oceans.  It  was  not  the  policy  of  the 
Cushite  race  to  exterminate  peoples  found  in  countries 
which  they  colonized  and  occupied.  Their  policy  was  to 
conciliate,  civilize,  and  absorb  them.  The  present  physical 
characteristics  of  the  people  of  India  indicate  that  they 
pursued  this  policy  in  that  country.  Let  me  state  some 
of  the  indications  that  they  occupied  India  long  before  the 
Indo- Aryan  immigration. 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  in  the  highest  degree  probable 
that  the  Arabian  Cushites  occupied  India.  It  is  unreason- 
able to  suppose  otherwise.  A  great  commercial,  maritime, 
and  colonizing  people,  such  as  the  old  Arabians  were  in  the 
remotest  antiquity,  could  not  fail  to  go  as  colonizers  to  In- 
dia, and  to  many  of  the  islands  of  the  Indian  Ocean.  It 
was  an  ordinance  of  nature  itself  that  any  people  control- 
ling the  navigation  and  commerce  of  that  ocean  should  es- 
tablish very  close  relations  between  India,  Ceylon,  South- 
eastern Africa,  and  Southern  Arabia.  It  has  been  well  ob- 
served that  there  are  probably  no  other  extensive  and 
separated  regions  on  the  globe  where  so  many  causes  incite 
to  a  mutual  commerce.  While  the  older  Greeks  associated 
"  the  sacred  wave  and  coraled  bed  of  the  Erythraean  Sea" 


Ancient  Arabian  Enterprise.  219 

with  the  wonderful  Ethiopians,  there  was  neither  trace  nor 
tradition  of  any  other  controlling  maritime  people  in  that 
part  of  the  world.  They  must  have  occupied  all  those  re- 
gions ;  for  it  is  undeniable  that  they  had  uninterrupted  su- 
premacy on  the  Indian  Ocean  from  time  immemorial,  from 
ages  away  back  in  the  deeps  of  antiquity,  until  the  people 
of  Western  Europe  found  their  way  to  India  around  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope. 

Vincent,  in  his  work  on  the  Periplus  of  the  Erythraean 
Sea,  without  distinctly  recognising  ancient  Arabia,  found 
himself  constrained  to  speak  thus :  "  The  commerce  of  the 
Arabians  has  arrested  our  attention  throughout  the  whole 
progress  of  our  inquiry,  from  the  first  mention  of  imports 
in  Scripture  to  the  accounts  of  the  present  day.  Their 
connection  with  the  countries  in  their  neighborhood  is 
equally  obvious.  In  the  Indian  Ocean  they  are  found  upon 
every  coast  and  upon  almost  every  island."  There  may 
have  been  some  older  civilization  than  that  of  the  Arabian 
Cushites,  from  which  they  learned  their  skill  in  commerce 
and  navigation ;  but  tradition  does  not  go  beyond  them. 
It  followed,  necessarily,  that  they  occupied  all  desirable  re- 
gions within  their  reach.  Not  only  Ceylon,  the  Spice  Isl- 
ands, and  all  other  important  islands  in  the  Indian  Ocean, 
but  also  the  shores,  southern  districts,  and  central  regions 
of  the  continent.  Ephorus  stated  expressly  that  "  the 
Ethiopians  occupied  all  the  southern  coasts  of  both  Asia 
and  Africa ;"  and  this  accords  with  the  universal  testimony 
of  ancient  tradition. 

In  the  second  place,  the  ancient  occupation  of  India  by 
the  Arabian  Cushites  is  seen  in  the  revelations  of  linguistic 
and  archaeological  research ;  in  the  religious  ideas,  customs, 
and  symbols  found  there ;  in  remains  of  the  oldest  architec- 


220  Pre-Historiti  Nations. 

ture ;  in  all  the  antiquities  of  the  country ;  and  even  in  re- 
mains of  ancient  municipal  organizations  that  seem  to  have 
been  peculiar  to  the  Cushite  race. 

Professor  Rawlinson,  in  his  work  on  Herodotus,  book  i., 
Essay  iL,  says :  "  Recent  linguistic  discovery  tends  to  show 
that  a  Cushite  or  Ethiopian  race  did,  in  the  earliest  times, 
extend  itself  along  the  shores  of  the  Southern  Ocean  from 
Abyssinia  to  India.  The  whole  peninsula  of  India  was 
peopled  by  a  race  of  this  character  before  the  influx  of  the 
Aryans ;  it  extended  along  the  sea-coast  through  the  mod- 
ern Beluchistan  and  Kerman ;  the  cities  on  the  northern 
shores  of  the  Persian  Gulf  are  shown  by  the  brick  inscrip- 
tions found  in  their  ruins  to  have  belonged  to  this  race." 
Archa3ological  exploration  and  research  in  the  East  is  un- 
veiling the  past,  and  careful  inquirers  are  gradually  getting 
eyes  to  see  it. 

The  ancient  people  of  Arabia  doubtless  went  first  to  In- 
dia by  sea,  for  they  were  adventurous  navigators  and  trad- 
ers, who  traveled  more  by  sea  than  by  land.  Professor 
Rawlinson  is  one  of  the  scholars  who  misunderstand  Ara- 
bia. He  seeks  in  Africa  that  Ethiopia  from  which  proceed- 
ed such  mighty  streams  of  colonization ;  but  he  has  learned 
to  see  the  ancient  Cushite  occupation  of  India.  Heeren, 
who  failed  to  discover  the  original  Ethiopia,  maintained, 
nevertheless,  that  "  a  very  ancient  connection  existed  be- 
tween India  and  Arabia,  and  between  India  and  the  oppo- 
site coast  of  Africa,  which  was  dependent  on  Arabian  prin- 
ces ;"  and  also  that "  from  time  immemorial  the  Arabians 
had  monopolized  the  carrying  trade  of  the  Indian  Ocean." 

Investigation  has  brought  to  light  traces  of  the  Cushite 
religion  in  every  part  of  India.  Their  significance  was 
pointed  out  by  Signor  Gorresio,  who  edited  and  translated 


Siva  a  Cushite  divinity.  221 

the  Ramayann.  He  believed  the  ante-Sanskrit  people  of 
Southern  India  to  be  of  "  Hamitic  origin ;"  and,  in  proof 
of  this,  he  cited  the  fact  that  their  religious  symbols  and 
devices  are  serpents,  dragons,  and  the  like,  all  peculiar  to 
the  ancient  Hamitic  or  Cushite  religion ;  and  that  the  god 
they  prefer  to  all  others,  and  whom  they  especially  honor 
in  their  sacrifices,  is  "  the  terrible  Rudra  or  Siva,"  certainly 
a  Cushite  divinity,  called  by  the  Cushites  Baal,  and  by  oth- 
er names.  Siva  is  not  a  Vedic  god.  He  did  not  belong- 
to  the  religious  system  of  the  Indo-Aryans ;  but  he  was  a 
great  divinity  of  the  older  people  of  the  country;  and  the 
later  Brahmanism,  seeking  to  absorb  everything  that  could 
give  it  strength  and  influence,  adopted  him,  and  introduced 
him  into  its  system  by  means  of  a  conveniently  invented 
avatar. 

Siva  is  not  mentioned  in  the  Rig- Veda.  The  legend  of 
Daksha,  in  the  Vishnu  Purana,  shows  that  he  did  not  orig- 
inally belong  to  the  Brahmanical  system,  and  makes  him 
say,  "  My  priests  worship  me  in  the  sacrifice  of  true  wis- 
dom where  no  officiating  Brahman  is  needed."  Rev.  Dr. 
Stevenson  has  published  in  the  Journal  of  the  Royal  Asi- 
atic Society,  and  in  the  Journal  of  the  Bombay  Branch  of 
that  society,  several  papers  on  the  religious  peculiarities 
of  the  Dekhan.  He  discusses  this  point,  and  urges,  on  the 
strongest  grounds,  that  neither  Siva  nor  the  Phallus  wor- 
ship, of  which  traces  are  so  prevalent  in  India,  came  into 
that  country  with  the  Aryan  race.  They  existed  there 
long  before  the  Aryan  immigration.  He  says : 

"  The  Lingayats  are  well  known  to  have  a  bitter  hatred 
towards  the  Brahmans,  to  neglect  Brahmanical  rules  about 
purification  for  dead  bodies,  etc.,  and  to  have  priests  of 
their  own  called  jangams.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Brah- 


222  Pre-IIistorw  Nations. 

mans  call  them  Pakhantfi,  or  adherents  to  a  false  religion. 
And  although  Acharya,  or  whoever  established  that  com- 
promise of  sects  called  the  worship  of  Panchaitana,  or  the 
five  principal  divinities,  has  admitted  Mahadeva  (Siva),  un- 
der the  form  of  the  Linga,  into  the  number,  still  the  person 
who  attends  to  dress  this  image  is  not,  as  is  the  case  with 
all  the  rest,  a  Brahman,  but  a  Sudra  of  the  caste  Gurava." 
The  intense  and  exclusive  fanaticism  of  the  early  Indo- 
Aryans  described  the  old  inhabitants  of  the  country,  with 
their  different  religion,  as  Dasyus,  Rakshasas,  fiendish  creat- 
ures, demons,  and  monsters.  Rakshasas  was  a  constant 
appellation  for  the  people  south  of  the  Vindhya  Mountains. 
Dr.  Stevenson  says :  "  I  observe  in  Tumour's  documents 
relative  to  the  religion  of  Ceylon  that  the  whole  of  that 
island  was  overrun  with  devil  and  serpent  worship  pre- 
vious to  the  arrival  of  Buddha ;  and  I  think  analogy  may 
lead  us  to  conclude  that  the  same  was  the  case  in  India  be- 
fore the  arrival  of  the  Brahmans."  To  the  ancient  Hindus, 
Ceylon  was  a  land  of  very  terrible  Rakshasas.  The  "  dev- 
ils" and  "demons"  of  the  Buddhists  are  easily  understood. 
The  serpent  worship  is  full  of  significance :  this  was  a  great 
feature  of  the  old  religion  of  the  Cushites ;  but  the  word 
"  serpent"  will  convey  a  very  poor  notion  of  its  meaning 
to  those  who  do  not  understand  what  it  was.  The  serpent 
was  regarded  as  a  symbol  of  intelligence,  of  immortality, 
of  protection  against  the  power  of  evil  spirits,  and  of  a  re- 
newal of  life  or  of  the  healing  powers  in  nature.  It  is  evi- 
dent that  Brahmanism  was  never  established  in  Ceylon. 
The  people  of  that  island  retained  their  old  religion  until 
they  were  converted  by  disciples  of  Buddha.  In  the  same 
spirit  and  to  the  same  effect  is  the  statement  of  Fa-hian,  a 
Chinese  Buddhist  who  traveled  in  India,  where  he  speaks 


The  Worship  of  Vetal.  223 

of  Ceylon  as  "  originally  inhabited  by  demons,  genii,  and 
dragons,  who  had,  nevertheless,  a  taste  for  commerce,  and 
in  time  became  civilized." 

.Dr.  Stevenson  describes  the  festival  of  Holi,  or  "  the  woi'- 
ship  of  Holika  Devata,"  and  says  it  has  a  close  resemblance 
to  the  English  festival  of  the  May-pole,  which  originated 
in  a  religious  ceremony  or  festival  of  the  Cushites  (called 
Phoenicians)  who  anciently  occupied  Western  Europe.  As 
cairns,  like  those  in  Western  Europe  and  in  other  Cushite 
countries,  are  abundant  in  the  Dekhan,  we  may  suppose  the 
cairn  fires  also  were  formerly  known  there. 

Dr.  Stevenson  and  several  other  writers  have  described 
the  "worship  of  Vetal,"  which  still  exists  in  the  Dekhan, 
in  which  traces  of  the  old  Cushites  are  very  plain.  It  is 
remarked  that  Yetal  has  no  image  in  the  shape  of  any 
creature  whatever ;  therefore  his  worship  must  have  been 
introduced  "  previous  to  the  custom  of  likening  the  gods  to 
men  and  animals."  Vetal  has  no  temple,  but  is  worship- 
ped in  the  open  air,  generally  under  the  shade  of  a  wide- 
spreading  tree.  "  This  circumstance  connects  his  worship 
with  that  of  the  Canaanites,  who,  in  the  time  of  Moses,  had 
no  temples."  The  place  where  Vetal  is  worshipped  is  a 
kind  of  lesser  Stonehenge.  It  is  a  stone  circle,  or  inclosure 
of  stones,  generally  circular  in  form,  varying  from  fifteen 
to  forty  feet  in  diameter.  This  antique  worship  is  not  con- 
fined to  the  south  of  India ;  it  is  found  in  Konkan,  Kanara, 
Gujerat,  Cutch,  and  other  districts.  The  Brahmans  call 
Vetal  a  demon ;  he  neither  belongs  to  their  Pantheon  nor 
requires  their  services.  The  old  Keltic  Druids,  probably, 
would  have  seen  in  him  something  very  different  from  a 
demon. 

The  great  resemblance  of  certain  customs  common  to 


°2'24:  P  re-Historic  Nations. 

the  Kelts,  the  Canaanites,  and  the  ante-Sanskrit  people  of 
India,  strongly  engaged  the  attention  of  Lieut.  Col.  Forbes 
Leslie,  as  will  be  seen  in  his  work  on  the  "  Early  Races  of 
Scotland."  It  is  manifest  to  those  who  have  studied  the 
subject  closely,  that  both  modern  Brahmanism  and  modern 
Buddhism  (for  Buddhism  is  much  older  than  the  Buddha 
of  the  Ceylonese  records)  have  absorbed  many  elements 
of  the  old  Cushite  religion.  We  may  suspect,  although  we 
have  no  historical  records  to  show,  that  the  most  ancient 
form  of  Buddhism  began  the  first  development  of  its  dis- 
tinctive peculiarities  under  some  influence  of  the  Cushite 
faith.  Mr.  James  Bird,  in  his  work  on  "  The  Buddha  and 
Jaina  Religions,"  speaks  on  this  subject  as  follows : 

"  The  more  intimately  we  become  acquainted  with  the 
principles  of  the  Buddha  religion,  the  stronger  will  be  our 
conviction  that  such  principles  have  their  origin  in  physical 
and  metaphysical  opinions,  made  applicable  to  explain  the 
phenomena  of  the  world  and  of  human  nature ;  and  that 
such  opinions  were  closely  connected  with  the  worship  of 
the  heavenly  bodies  and  the  Sabean  idolatry.  This  Saba- 
ism,  too,  instead  of  being  ingrafted  on  the  Buddha  system, 
appeai-s  to  have  preceded  it,  and  to  have  been  the  source 
from  whence  it  sprung." 

The  earliest  religion  of  India  of  which  we  have  any  trace 
is  planet  worship,  with  its  usual  symbols  and  ceremonies. 
The  remains  of  its  influence  are  found  everywhere.  In 
Ceylon  and  Southern  India,  the  Bali  means  planet  worship. 
The  stone  circles  and  Cyclopean  fanes  mean  this.  Its  sym- 
bols are  abundant  in  the  rock  temples.  It  used  no  idols 
in  its  purest  form,  but  inculcated  adoration  of  "the  host 
of  heaven."  In  Ferishta's  Introduction  to  his  "  Mahomedan 
India,"  he  tells  us  that  before  idols  were  used  by  the  pccc 


Local  Municipalities  of  India.  225 

pie  of  India  in  their  worship,  they,  "  like  the  Persians,  wor- 
shipped the  sun  and  the  stars."  On  this  the  translator  has 
the  following  note :  . 

"There  appears  every  day  stronger  reason  to  believe 
that  the  worship  of  the  Bull,  the  Linga,  and  the  Yoni  is 
the  same  as  the  Phallic  worship  of  Egypt,  and  as  that  of 
the  calf  and  the  pillar,  emblematic  of  Baal  or  the  sun,  by 
the  nations  surrounding  the  Israelites ;  that  this  worship 
was  founded  originally  on  Sabaism ;  and  that  the  emblems 
are  types  of  fructification.  Abundant  proof  exists  in  India 
of  the  antiquity  of  Tauric  and  Phallic  worship  over  that 
of  idolatry  and  demi-god  heroes.  All  the  temples  of  the 
latter  are  modern  compared  with  those  dedicated  to  Maha- 
deva,"  that  is,  Baal,  called  Siva  by  the  Brahmans. 

I  must  class  with  the  Cushite  antiquities  of  India  the  lo- 
cal municipalities  still  existing  in  many  parts  of  the  coun- 
try. They  remind  us  of  similar  organizations  left  by  that 
race  in  all  the  countries  they  occupied.  These  remarkable 
municipalities  were  noticed  by  Arrian  and  other  Greek 
writers  who  followed  Megasthenes.  Attention  is  called  to 
them  in  Elphinstone's  History;  and  Sir  Charles  Metcalf 
described  them  as  follows :  "  The  village  communities  are 
little  republics,  having  everything  they  want  within  them- 
selves, and  almost  independent  of  any  foreign  relations. 
They  seem  to  last  where  nothing  else  lasts.  Dynasty  aftei 
dynasty  tumbles;  revolution  succeeds  to  revolution;  Hin- 
du, Patan,  Mogul,  Mahratta,  Sikh,  English,  are  all  masters 
in  turn,  but  the  village  communities  remain  the  same." 
An  article  in  the  Journal  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society  for 
1865,  after  citing  what  was  said  of  them  by  Diodorus  Sic- 
ulus,  Arrian,  and  Quintus  Curtius,  says:  "There  are  no 
data  to  determine  the  exact  form  of  these  constitutions, 

K2 


226  Pfc-Iliaioric  Nations. 

though  they  are  seen  to  have  been  far  beyond  any  mere 
intramural  municipality.  The  city  clearly  dominated  over 
the  country  around,  and  constituted,  to  all  intents  and  pur- 
poses, a  state."  This  was  the  Cushite  method  in  Arabia, 
in  Phoenicia,  in  Northern  Africa,  in  Spain,  in  their  settle- 
ments all  around  the  Mediterranean.  These  municipal  or- 
ganizations were  not  originated  by  Brahmanism  ;  they  are 
foreign  to  its  spirit,  by  which  they  have  been  modified  and 
mutilated,  but  not  entirely  extirpated.  The  Sanskrit  race 
found  them  in  India,  and  they  must  be  classed  with  the 
oldest  antiquities  of  the  country. 

But  there  are  other  antiquities  in  India  which  reveal  the 
Cushite  occupation.  It  would  now  be  preposterous  for 
any  one  familiar  with  the  subject  to  deny  that  the  remains 
of  a  civilized  people  who  preceded  the  Indo-Aryans  exist 
in  every  part  of  the  Indian  Peninsula.  The  actual  state 
of  the  case  is  presented  by  Lieut.  General  Briggs,  in  a  pa- 
per on  "  The  Aboriginal  Race  of  India,"  published  in  the 
Journal  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society  for  1852,  as  follows: 

"  There  are  incontestable  proofs  of  the  aboriginal  race 
having  once  occupied  every  part  of  India ;  and  .that,  ere 
the  Hindus  came  among  them,  they  had  made  sufficient 
progress  in  civilization  to  form  large  communities,  estab- 
lish kingdoms,  and  become  merchants  and  extensive  culti- 
vators of  the  soil.  There  are  distinct  remains  of  old  cas- 
tles, extensive  excavations,  and  other  monumental  ruins. 
Several  of  their  principalities  have  continued  to  the  pres- 
ent day;  and  history  has  transmitted  to  us,  from  the  earli- 
est period  of  which  any  authentic  records  exist,  occasional 
proofs  of  the  power  this  race  once  possessed." 

The  writer  goes,  on  the  wings  of  fancy,  to  the  Scytlis 
and  Tatars  for  the  origin  of  this  aboriginal  race.  The  char- 


Cushite  Remains  in  India.  227 

acter  of  these  antiquities  very  plainly  suggest  a  much  more 
probable  hypothesis.  Professor  Benfey  finds  "  the  whole 
Dekhan  covered  with  remains  of  a  nation  of  which,  it  is 
highly  probable,  the  several  parts  were  connected  by  affin- 
ity," and  says,  "  we  know  with  certainty"  that  this  nation 
preceded  the  Sanskrit-speaking  people^. 

These  remains  of  an  ante-Sanskrit  race  in  India  consist 
of  ancient  temples  which  Europeans  call  pagodas,  Cyclo- 
pean excavations  in  mountains  of  rock,  Cyclopean  fanes, 
barrows  containing  human  remains,  cells  formed  of  large 
slabs,  stone  circles,  cairns  of  every  kind,  cromlechs,  dolmens, 
and  many  other  antiquities  of  the  same  class — all  similar 
to  those  found  in  Arabia,  Syria,  Phoenicia,  Northern  Africa, 
and  the  western  and  southern  countries  of  Europe.  In 
presence  of  these  remains,  it  is  unreasonable  to  talk  of 
Scyths  and  Tatars.  They  show  plainly  the  race  to  which 
they  belong.  Their  character  and  significance  cannot  be 
mistaken  when  carefully  studied  and  fairly  understood. 
Such  monuments  could  not  be  found  in  India  if  the  Ara- 
bian Cushites  had  not  gone  there  in  very  remote  times,  oc- 
cupied the  country,  and  filled  it  with  the  influence  of  their 
religion  and  their  civilization.  Lieut.  Col.  Forbes  Leslie 
describes  and  discusses  such  antiquities  of  the  Dekhan  as 
appear  to  him  incontestably  the  same  in  character  and 
origin  as  those  of  Syria  and  Western  Europe.  He  points 
out  clearly  that  these  monuments  in  the  Dekhan  appear 
"  in  all  the  varied  forms  in  which  they  are  to  be  found  in 
France  and  Britain,"  and  in  all  the  countries  where  the  in- 
fluence of  the  Arabian  Cushites  was  established — an  influ- 
ence which  he  does  not  appear  to  comprehend.  He  says : 
"It  will  not  be  disputed  that  the  primitive  Cyclopean 
monuments  of  the  Dekhan  were  erected  prior  to  the  arri- 
val of  the  present  dominant  race,  the  Hindus." 


228  Pre-Historic  Nations. 


THE    ROCK-CUT   TEMPLES    OF   IXDIA. 

The  marvelous  and  long-deserted  temples,  formed  by  ex- 
cavating mountains  of  rock,  must  be  considered  by  them- 
selves. Heeren,  admitting  that  Arabian  colonies  may  have 
been  established  on»the  coasts  of  Hindustan  in  very  early 
times,  allowed  himself  to  make  this  very  singular  observa- 
tion :  "  And  yet,  up  to  the  present  time,  no  traces,  I  believe, 
of  Arabian  architecture  have  been  discovered  in  India  sim- 
ilar to  those  found  in  many  parts  of  Spain."  What  have 
the  old  Adite  Ethiopians  to  do  with  the  Saracens  of  Spain, 
from  whom  they  were  so  distant  in  time,  and  so  different 
in  religion  and  civilization  ?  Nothing  whatever.  But  Hee- 
ren did  not  know  that  Arabia  itself  has  ruins  which  show 
nothing  in  common  with  the  Saracenic  style  of  archictect- 
ure. 

The  Cushite  Arabians  left,  throughout  India,  some  won- 
derful specimens  of  their  architecture ;  not  Saracenic  in 
style  certainly,  but  remarkably  characteristic  of  their  own 
spirit  and  civilization.  The  rock-cut  temples  at  Elephanta, 
Salsette  or  Kanaria,  Ellora,  Ajunta,  and  elsewhere  in  the 
Indian  peninsula,  together  with  many  of  the  old  temples 
called  pagodas,  show  their  style,  and  remind  us  of  similar 
structures  of  that  race  in  other  regions.  Both  pen  and 
pencil  have  described  them  so  often  that  I  need  not  here 
attempt  another  elaborate  description. 

Niebuhr  was  the  first,  in  modern  times,  to  call  attention 
to  these  architectural  excavations ;  but  his  personal  obser- 
vations were  confined  to  Elephanta,  where  is  found  one  of 
these  rock-temples  a  hundred  and  thirty  feet  deep  by  about 
a  hundred  and  twenty-three  feet  wide,  exclusive  of  the  va- 
rious rooms  attached.  The  roof  is  supported  by  twenty- 


The  Rock-Temples  vemj  Ancient.  229 

six  pillars  and  sixteen  pilasters.  The  walls  were  once  cov- 
ered with  a  beautiful  stucco ;  if  they  ever  had  inscriptions, 
these  have  entirely  disappeared.  In  the  neighboring  isl- 
and of  Salsette,  or  Kanaria,  a  mountain  of  rock  is  excavated 
in  every  direction.  Some  of  the  finest  of  these  rock-tem- 
ples are  at  Ellora,  in  Central  India,  where  a  semicircular 
range  of  rock  mountain  contains  a  series  of  them,  more  care- 
fully finished  and  ornamented  than  those  at  Elephanta  and 
Salsette.  The  rock  excavated  at  Elephanta  is  described  as 
clay  porphyry,  so  hard  that  no  ordinary  steel  can  work  it. 
It  must  have  been  worked  by  means  of  the  celebrated  In- 
dia steel  called  wudz. 

These  wonderful  structures  are  found  in  many  other  lo- 
calities. The  ruins  at  Mavalipura  show  the  remains  of  a 
city  that  was  chiefly  hewn  out  of  solid  rock.  A  consider- 
able portion  of  these  ruins  has  sunk  into  the  sea.  There 
are  remains  of  heavy  walls,  built  of  immense  blocks  of 
stone  piled  one  above  another,  after  the  style  called  Cyclo- 
pean. These  excavations  must  be  very  ancient.  That  they 
belong  to  a  remote  antiquity  is  shown  by  the  fact  that 
there  is  in  India  no  record  or  recollection  of  their  origin. 
They  may  have  been  changed  and  reconstructed  in  some 
respects,  from  age  to  age,  until  they  were  disused ;  but 
they  are  very  ancient,  and  owe  their  origin  to  that  race 
whose  traces  are  everywhere  unmistakable. 

To  the  same  race  must  be  attributed  the  origin  of  the 
pyramidal  temples  of  Cyclopean  construction  called  pago- 
das, the  walls  of  which  were  made  of  immense  blocks  of 
stone  placed  together  in  the  usual  style  of  this  method  of 
building.  All  these  old  structures  remind  us  of  similar  re- 
mains of  remote  antiquity  found  in  Arabia,  Syria,  Phoeni- 
cia, Greece,  Italy,  Sicily,  Egypt,  and  the  Upper  Nile  valley. 


230  Pre-Histonc  Nations. 

Rock  excavations  are  nowhere  else  so  extensive  as  in  In- 
dia ;  but  similar  rock  architecture  and  Cyclopean  construc- 
tions found  in  the  other  countries  are  in  the  same  style, 
and  show  unmistakable  traces  of  the  same  hand.  The  most 
ancient  architects  of  Calabria,  Mycense,  Petra,  Ruad,  Ma- 
rathos,  Nubia,  and  India  all  learned  in  the  same  school. 

Some  writers  on  these  architectural  remains  have  sought 
to  deny  their  claim  to  antiquity,  not  because  they  have 
good  or  even  plausible  reasons  for  doing  so,  but  chiefly 
through  the  influence  of  that  amazing  chronological  lunacy 
\vliich  aims  so  obstinately  to  obscure  the  past,  and  begin 
the  history  of  civilization  with  an  age  comparatively  mod- 
ern. One  writer,  whose  pretensions  as  an  architect  are  not 
supported  by  respectable  qualifications  for  archa3ological 
inquiry,  affirms,  with  great  confidence  in  his  own  opinion, 
that  the  structures  at  Mavalipura  were  built  just  previous 
to  the  year  1300  A.D.  Others  have  maintained  that  none 
of  these  rock-temples  can  be  older  than  the  ninth  century 
of  the  Christian  Era.  We  have  historical  evidence  that 
shows  the  falseness  of  these  representations. 

Near  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  Era,  envoys  were 
sent  to  the  Roman  emperor  Antoninus  by  a  king  of  one  of 
the  Indian  countries.  In  the  fragment  of  a  lost  work  of 
Porphyry,  preserved  in  the  10th  Eclogue  of  Stobreus,  a 
statement  of  Bardesanes  is  quoted  as  follows :  "  The  In- 
dian messengers  report  that  there  is  in  India  a  large  grotto, 
under  a  lofty  hill,  in  which  is  to  be  seen  an  image  from  ten 
to  twelve  ells  high,  with  arms  folded  across  the  breast,  the 
right  side  being  man  and  the  left  side  woman."  This  ap- 
pears to  be  a  description  of  the  image  of  Siva  in  the  rock- 
temple  at  Elephanta ;  and,  at  that  time,  evidently  it  was  as 
completely  deserted,  unused,  and  mysterious  as  it  is  now. 


Early  mention  of  Rock-Temples.  231 

Bardesanes  was  born  about  the  middle  of  the  second  cen- 
tury, and  the  rock-temple  mentioned  must  have  been  de- 
scribed by  the  Indian  messengers,  or  envoys,  previous  to 
the  year  200  A.D. 

By  general  consent  of  geographical  writers,  Mavalipu- 
ra,  the  rock  city  on  the  Coromandel  coast,  has  been  identi- 
fied with  the  Maliarpha  located  there  by  Ptolemy,  and  by 
him  described  as  a  commercial  emporium.  Ptolemy  was 
older  than  Bardesanes.  His  geography,  however,  was  a  re- 
vision of  an  older  woi'k  by  Marinus  of  Tyre ;  and  there  is 
no  good  reason  to  doubt  that,  in  locating  the  city  he  calls 
Maliarpha,  he  depended  entirely  on  Phoenician  geographers, 
who  had  given  this  city  the  same  location  at  a  much  ear- 
lier date  than  could  be  claimed  for  the  geography  of  Ma- 
rinus itself.  At  any  rate,  here  is  evidence  that  the  city  of 
Mavalipura  existed  more  than  1100  years  previous  to  the 
time  when  certain  writers  say  it  was  built;  and  that- the 
rock-temple  at  Elephanta  was  forsaken  and  incomprehensi- 
ble at  least  700  years  previous  to  the  earliest  date  that  can 
be  allowed  for  the  oldest  of  these  structures  by  some  writ- 
ers who  speak  on  the  subject  with  that  tone  of  assurance 
which  belongs  only  to  positive  knowledge. 

It  is  surprising  that  anybody  should  deny  the  great  an- 
tiquity of  these  works  in  presence  of  so  many  indications 
of  their  age,  with  tradition  either  standing  speechless  or 
muttering  nonsense  to  show  its  inability  to  explain  them. 
Their  origin  could  not  be  so  completely  forgotten  if  they 
did  not  belong  to  ages  previous  to  the  Aryan  immigration. 
Maurice,  in  his  "Indian  Antiquities,"  says  very  justly: 
"  One  would  have  supposed  that  the  construction  of  such 
astonishing  works,  which  have  been  called  the  eighth  won- 
der of  the  world,  would  have  fixed  in  any  country  an  era 


232  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

never  to  be  forgotten."  He  is  sure  they  belong  to  the  re- 
motest antiquity,  and  that  "  a  species  of  worship  totally 
different  from  that  now  prevailing  in  India  was  anciently 
practiced  in  these  caverns."  They  are  now  deserted.  The 
people  of  the  country  cannot  tell  when  or  why  they  were 
deserted.  Some  of  them,  if  not  all,  were  in  the  same  con- 
dition 1 700  years  ago,  when,  to  the  Indian  messengers,  na- 
tives of  the  country,  the  rock-temple  they  described  was 
merely  "  a  grotto,"  with  a  big  image  in  it ;  for  if  it  had  then 
been  used  for  temple  worship,  their  description  could  not 
have  failed  to  say  so. 

It  is  preposterous  to  talk  of  these  structures  as  no  older 
than  the  ninth  or  tenth  century  of  the  Christian  Era.  At 
that  period  such  constructions  were  no  longer  possible  in 
India,  even  if  their  style  of  architecture  had  still  been  cur- 
rent. The  great  days  of  the  Sanskrit  race  had  gone  by, 
and  new  influences  were  preparing  to  take  possession  of 
the  country.  In  the  year  637  A.D.,  during  the  califate  of 
Omar,  the  crusading  Mahometans  began  their  invasion  of 
India  by  sending  a  fleet  from  Oman  to  the  Malabar  coast. 
Not  much  was  effected  ;  but  in  the  year  696,  a  Mahometan 
army,  led  by  "  Muhammed,  son  of  Cassem,"  occupied  the 
valley  of  the  Indus,  overturned  a  powerful  Indian  kingdom, 
and  penetrated  as  far  as  the  country  of  the  Rajputs.  No 
one  familiar  with  the  history  of  India  from  this  date  to  the 
reign  of  the  great  Akbar  can  allow  himself  to  assign  these 
marvelous  works  to  any  age  within  the  period  in  question. 

The  only  semblance  of  argument  against  the  great  an- 
tiquity claimed  for  these  structures  comes  from  an  assump- 
tion that  they  represent  some  of  the  later  forms  of  Hindu 
worship,  especially  that  of  the  Buddhists.  In  nearly  all 
the  rock-temples  there  are  sculptured  figures,  reliefs,  and 


Siva  in  the  Roc7t-Tem/ples.  233 

decorations  that  are  assumed  to  represent  their  original 
consecration ;  but  the  interpreters  of  these  images  and 
decorations  do  not  agree  in  their  conclusions,  nor  have 
they  attempted  to  show  that  the  images  and  symbolical 
devices  are  all  as  old  as  the  temples.  Most  of  the  inter- 
pretations have  been  the  work  of  fanciful  conjecture.  It 
has  been  confidently  asserted  that  the  temple  at  Salsette 
was  a  Buddhist  temple ;  but  close  and  careful  examination 
shows  that  it  was  certainly  a  temple  of  Siva  or  Baal,  for 
the  Linga  and  Yoni  appear  everywhere  in  its  interior  re- 
cesses. Lieut.  Col.  Sykes,  who  has  given  much  attention 
to  the  rock-temples,  says :  "  There  is  not  anywhere  a  rock- 
temple  excavation  dedicated  to  Brahma  or  Vishnu ;"  and 
"  Siva  is  the  only  god  to  whom  honor  is  done  at  Ellora." 
[See  vol.  v.  of  the  Journal  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society.] 

Some  of  these  temples  may  have  been  used  by  the  Buddh- 
ists during  the  time  of  their  supremacy,  and  for  this  pur- 
pose they  may  have  been  changed  in  some  respects.  The 
inscriptions  found  in  them  are  much  later  than  the  begin- 
ning of  the  Buddhist  period.  Scholars  who  have  studied 
these  antiquities  admit  that  "the  larger  inscriptions  at 
Ajunta  may  be  long  posterior  to  the  excavations."  [See 
Bombay  Journal,  vol.  ii.]  Similar  constructions  in  Nubia 
have  bas-reliefs  and  other  decorations  in  the  highest  style 
of  old  Egyptian  art,  while  the  architecture  of  the  original 
structures  is  entirely  different.  Rameses  the  Great  found 
them  existing  as  mysterious  antiquities  in  his  time,  and 
used  them  to  display  his  devices  and  record  his  glories  as 
a  conquering  hero ;  but  neither  there  nor  in  India  is  the 
vast  antiquity  of  these  structures  in  any  way  affected  by 
the  later  addition  of  inscriptions,  decorations,  or  images. 
The  supposition  that  the  Buddhists  originated  these  rock- 


23i  Pre-IIistoric  Nations. 

temples  is  made  highly  improbable,  and  therefore  inadmis- 
sible, by  several  facts  that  appear  against  it. 

1.  In  the  first  place,  these  structures  appear  to  have  been 
in  existence  long  before  the  Buddhism  of  Sakhya-M\mi  be- 
came the  established  religion  of  Magadha.     They  existed 
at  the  time  of  his  death.     The  Buddhist  books  give  an  ac- 
count of  three  great  convocations  of  his  disciples.     The 
first  was  convened  by  his  favorite  disciple  Ananda  imme- 
diately after  his  death.     The  Journal  of  the  Royal  Asiatic 
Society  [vol.  vi.,  p.  303]  has  the  following  statement  con- 
cerning it :  "  The  Chinese  work,  the  Foufa-thsang-yaan- 
Iting,  contains  the  following  remarkable  notice  respecting 
Ananda :  '  After  the  death  of  Buddha,  he   collected  500 
pious  men  in  the  CAVERN  of  Pi-pho-lo  [the  tree  of  Photi], 
and  jointly  with  them  collected  the  Vinayas.'    Of  Kassapo, 
another  of  Buddha's  disciples,  the  same  work  says :  '  He 
collected  a  great  assembly  in  the  CAVERN  of  Pi-ho-lo  and 
in   other  places,  and  arranged  the   Abidharmas.'     From 
these  passages  it  appears  that  cavern-excavations  must 
have  been  contemporary  with,  or  even  prior  to,  Buddha 
[Sakhya]." 

2.  In  the  second  place,  these  excavations  are  most  nu- 
merous, in  India,  away  from  the  region  on  the  Ganges  that 
was  the  birthplace  and  immediate  home  of  Buddhism.     A 
note  in  the  volume  of  the  Asiatic  Journal  just  quoted  takes 
notice  of  this  fact  as  follows:  "The  remains  of  Buddhism 
in  the  Dekhan  are  even  more  magnificent  and  extensive 
than  in  its  native  seats  on  the  Ganges.     The  cave-excava- 
tions are  well  known  as  wonderful  monuments  of  art." 
Buddhism  was  never  very  extensively  influential  in  the 
Dekhan,  and  in  many  districts  its  influence  was  scarcely 
felt.     Hinan-Thsang,  a  Chinese  Buddhist  who  visited  India 


Buddhism  and  these  Temples.  235 

in  the  beginning  of  the  seventh  century,  tells  us  what  he 
saw  in  the  Dekhan.  In  Kalinga,  he  says,  "  there  were  few 
of  the  orthodox  and  many  heretics ;"  but  there  were  rock- 
temples.  In  the  same  part  of  the  country  he  passed  through 
a  small  state  "  where  a  peculiar  language  was  spoken  and 
Buddhism  was  not  practiced."  In  another  district,  where 
the  people  were  "  black  and  savage,"  he  notices  "  an  exca- 
vated mountain ;"  if  it  had  been  used  as  a  Buddhist  tem- 
ple he  would  have  said  so.  It  seems  apparent  that  these 
rock-temples,  which  were  not  coincident  with  the  estab- 
lished domination  of  Buddhism,  and  do  not  anywhere  meas- 
ure the  extent  of  its  influence,  must  have  existed  long  pre- 
vious to  the  time  of  Sakhya-Muni,  and  had  their  origin 
in  something  entirely  independent  of  his  religion.  The 
Buddhists  may  have  used  them  and  perhaps  remodeled 
some  of  them,  but  they  did  not  originate  them. 

3.  In  the  third  place,  the  Siva-worship,  to  which  these 
rock-temples  were  mainly  devoted,  had  but  little  in  com- 
mon with  Sakhya-Muni's  type  of  Buddhism,  which  became 
tne  state  religion  of  Magadha;  therefore  this  state  relig- 
ion could  not  have  originated  these  Saivite  excavations. 
Eugene  Burnouf  was  sure  that  nothing  in  the  teaching  of 
Sakhya  could  have  produced  the  Saivite  Tantras  of  the 
Nepaulese  collection  of  Buddhist  Scriptures.  It  is  equally 
certain  that  nothing  in  his  religion  can  be  held  responsible 
for  the  Saivite  rock-temples ;  and  it  was  only  in  behalf  of 
such  Buddhism  as  he  and  his  disciples  preached  that  the 
power  and  resources  of  Magadha  were  engaged ;  therefore 
no  other  school  or  sect  of  Buddhists — and,  certainly,  no 
one  so  different  from  his  as  that  of  the  Saivas,  which  had 
most  in  common  with  the  old  religion  of  the  country — 
could  have  had  means  to  accomplish  such  stupendous 


236  Pre-lUatoric  Nations. 

works.  They  were  originated  in  times  more  ancient,  by 
another  race,  for  the  uses  of  that  older  system  of  religion 
of  which  Hindu  Saivism  was  born.  Buddhists  of  all  sects 
may  have  used  them ;  but  the  history  of  Buddhism  has 
nothing  to  explain  their  origin,  or  to  account  for  their  pe- 
culiar and  very  significant  style  of  architecture. 
•  No  part  of  India  has  more  abundant  traces  of  the  old 
Cushite  occupation  than  Ceylon.  In  addition  to  rock-tem- 
ples, traditions  of  the  ancient  Bali  and  serpent-worship, 
Cyclopean  fanes,  and  other  antiquities  of  the  same  class, 
it  has  immense  and  very  remarkable  structures  called 
tanks,  which  have  been  well  described  by  Governor  Ward 
in  the  27th  volume  of  the  Journal  of  the  Royal  Geograph- 
ical Society.  After  giving  some  account  of  the  ruins  of 
two  great  cities,  and  pointing  out  that  the  east  side  of  the 
island  was  anciently  occupied  by  a  very  numerous  and  in- 
telligent population,  he  says : 

"All  we  know  positively,  or  can  collect  from  ancient 
records,  is  that  there  must  once  have  been  a  large  popula- 
tion on  the  west  side  of  the  island,  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Manaar  and  Aripo ;  that  the  causes,  which  prompted  the 
selection  of  this  barren  coast  for  a  commercial  emporium 
probably  determined  the  choice  of  Anaradhapura  as  the 
seat  of  government ;  that  other  causes,  equally  obscure  to 
us,  forced  back  this  teeming  population  (leaving  every- 
where traces  of  its  industry  and  skill)  to  the  neighborhood 
of  Pollinarua,  where  its  second  capital  was  founded;  that 
this  second  capital,  like  the  first,  is  now  a  wilderness ;  :unl 
that  nothing  remains  to  bespeak  its  ancient  magnificence 
save  the  long  line  of  tanks  that  unite  it  with  TambU'iram 
Bay  and  Trincomalee." 

These  tanks  are  artificial  lakes  of  great  size  (some  of 


The  Tanks  in  Ceylon.  237 

them  over  twenty  miles  in  circumference)  formed  between 
hills  by  embankments  of  wonderful  masonry  "  that  seems 
to  defy  the  hand  of  time."  They  were  agencies  of  a  vast 
system  of  irrigation ;  but  "  there  is  no  visible  outlet  at  the 
point  from  which  the  stream  issues,  yet  the  stream  is  per- 
ennial. *  *  *  No  doubt  the  run  of  water  is  regulated  by 
those  ancient  sluices,  placed  in  the  bed  of  the  lakes,  which 
answered  the  purpose  so  admirably,  although  modern  en- 
gineers cannot  explain  their  action."  The  ruins  of  similar 
tanks  are  found  in  Arabia  and  Southern  India.  Wrede 
found  such  ruins  in  the  Arabian  valley  of  the  Doan ;  and 
Arnaud  has  described  the  ruins  of  the  celebrated  "  dike" 
or  tank  near  the  ancient  city  of  Saba.  The  tanks  of  Cey- 
lon may  not  be  as  old  as  most  of  the  other  Cyclopean  an- 
tiquities of  India ;  some  of  them  may  be  comparatively 
modern,  that  is  to  say,  not  much  older  than  the  Christian 
Era ;  but  they  belong  to  a  class  of  structures  that  must 
have  been  originated  by  the  Arabian  Cushites.  Maurice, 
in  his  "  Ancient  History  of  Hindustan,"  speaks  of  these  an- 
tiquities as  follows : 

"  At  that  period,  when  the  daring  Cushite  genius  was 
in  its  full  career  of  glory,  it  was  the  peculiar  delight  of 
that  enterprising  race  to  erect  stupendous  edifices,  exca- 
vate long  subterranean  passages  in  the  living  rock,  form 
vast  lakes,  and  extend  over  the  hollow  of  adjoining  moun- 
tains magnificent  arches  for  aqueducts  and  bridges.  *  *  *  It 
was  they  who  built  the  tower  of  Belus  and  raised  the  pyr- 
amids of  Egypt ;  it  was  they  who  formed  the  grottoes 
near  the  Nile,  and  scooped  the  caverns  of  Salsette  and  Ele- 
phanta.  Their  skill  in  mechanical  powers  to  this  day  as- 
tonishes posterity,  who  are  unable  to  conceive  by  what 
means  stones  thirty,  forty,  and  even  sixty  feet  in  length, 


238  1* re-Historic  Nations. 

and  from  twelve  to  twenty  feet  in  breadth  [and  depth], 
could  ever  be  raised  to  that  wonderful  point  of  elevation 
at  which  they  are  seen  in  the  ruined  temples  at  Balbec 
and  Thebais.  Those  composing  the  pagodas  of  India  are 
scarcely  less  wonderful  in  magnitude  and  elevation."  [Vol. 
ii.,  p.  241-2.] 

THE  DRAVIDIAN  RACE  AXD  THEIR  LANGUAGE. 

The  fact  that  languages  exist  in  India  radically  different 
from  that  of  the  Indo-Aryans,  and  that  these  languages 
represent  the  aboriginal  speech  of  the  country,  was  admit- 
ted and  discussed  by  the  old  Sanskrit  writers  themselves. 
Mr.  Muir  has  taken  some  pains  to  show  this  in  his  "  Sans- 
krit Texts."  The  native  writers  apply  the  term  Desi  to 
this  aboriginal  tongue,  and  point  out  that,  to  a  greater  or 
lesser  extent,  it  enters  into  all  the  existing  dialects  or  lan- 
guages of  the  peninsula.  At  the  north  the  influence  of 
Sanskrit  has  been  much  greater  than  at  the  south,  but  the 
old  language  is  largely  present  in  all  the  northern  dialects, 
"  especially  among  the  lower  orders  of  the  people,  and  in 
the  business  of  common  life  ;"  and  it  is  admitted  to  be  the 
oldest  element  in  these  dialects.  In  the  south  the  old 
speech  is  represented  by  a  family  of  cultivated  languages, 
spoken,  says  Rev.  Dr.  Caldwell,  in  his  Comparative  Gram- 
mar, by  thirty-one  millions  of  people,  not  including  the  nu- 
merous uncultivated  "  hill  tribes"  and  retired  communities 
of  Central  India,  who  use  dialects  closely  related  to  this 
family.  It  is  admitted  by  Lassen,  and  by  all  others  who 
have  given  them  any  attention,  that  these  languages  are 
fundamentally  different  from  the  Sanskrit,  and  that  "  their 
grammatical  forms  and  primary  words  cannot  by  any  pos- 
sibility have  been  drawn  from  that  source." 


The  Dravidian  Languages.  239 

The  five  cultivated  languages  classed  as  the  Dravidian 
family  are  used  by  peoples  occupying  the  most  southern 
part  of  India.  They  are  the  Tamil,  spoken  by  people  oc- 
cupying the  extreme  southeastern  extremity  of  the  penin- 
sula and  nearly  the  whole  of  Ceylon ;  the  Telugu,  or  Telin- 
ga,  used  in  a  larger  region  north  of  the  Tamil  people ;  the 
Karnatika,  or  Carnarese,  spoken  in  the  interior  region  west 
of  the  Tamil  and  Telugu ;  the  Malayalam,  or  Malabar 
tongue,  found  in  a  narrow  district  on  the  western  coast, 
extending  north  from  Cape  Comorin ;  and  the  Tulu,  in  a 
smaller  territory  north  of  the  Malayalam. 

Linguistic  scholars  have  not  studied  these  languages 
closely.  Not  much  is  known  of  them  beyond  the  informa- 
tion furnished  by  Dr.  Caldwell's  excellent  Comparative 
Grammar  of  the  Dravidian  Languages,  and  Mr.  A.  D.  Camp- 
bell's Telugu  Grammar,  with  the  accompanying  note  or  es- 
say of  Mr.  Ellis.  No  very  profound  study  is  required  to 
see  their  radical  unlikeness  to  the  Sanskrit.  Linguistic 
investigation  has  not  yet  authorized  us  to  go  beyond  this ; 
and,  for  the  present,  we  must  be  content  to  see  that  this 
Dravidian  speech,  so  far  as  relates  to  its  distinctive  charac- 
ter, must,  like  the  Cyclopean  remains  of  the  more  ancient 
race,  be  classed  with  the  ante-Sanskrit  Antiquities  of  India. 
They  belong  together,  and  whatever  explains  the  one  will 
explain  the  other. 

Dr.  Stevenson,  in  the  Bombay  Journal  for  April,  1842, 
describes  the  Tudas,  the  chief  tribe  of  the  Nilgiri  Hills,  and 
says :  "The  language  of  the  Tudas  is  a  sixth  Indian  penin- 
sula language.  All  these  languages  have  but  one  origin ; 
an  intimate  relation  in  grammatical  construction  and  voca- 
bles runs  through  them  all."  He  finds  that  the  language 
of  the  other  hill  tribes  has  a  strong  resemblance  to  that  of 


240  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

the  Tudas.  It  is  known,  also,  that  a  form  of  speech  close- 
ly related  to  the  Dravidian  family  is  used  by  certain  peo- 
ples in  Beluchistan.  Dr.  Stevenson  calls  attention  to  one 
peculiarity  of  these  languages  that  has  some  significance. 
He  says  the  word  "  Mag,"  son,  is  used  in  personal  appella- 
tions as  the  term  "Mac,"  son,  is  used  in  Gaelic,  and  adds, 
"  Surely,  after  this,  the  M'Phersons  and  M'Gregors  of  our 
Highland  glens  need  not  hesitate  to  claim  as  Scotch  cous- 
ins the  inhabitants  of  the  Indian  peninsula."  There  is  more 
in  this  than  he  saw.  The  African  Berbers  use  this  term 
"  Mac"  in  the  same  way.  Mr.  Urquhart  takes  notice  of  this 
fact  in  his  "  Pillars  of  Hercules,"  and  infers  from  it  an  an- 
cient relationship  between  the  Berbers  and  the  Scotch  High- 
landers. 

The  Sanskrit  is  not  now  represented  in  India  by  any 
spoken  tongue,  as  the  more  ancient  speech  is  represented 
by  these  Dravidian  languages.  Its  influence  is  seen  every- 
where ;  its  words  are  found  in  all  the  vocabularies ;  some 
of  the  dialects  grew  up  under  its  direct  influence,  and  are 
supposed  to  have  proceeded  from  it,  but  their  formation 
was  so  powerfully  influenced  by  the  old  language  that  the 
Desi  element  appears  in  them  as  an  esseptial  part  of  their 
structure.  What  scholars  represented  by  the  Bombay 
Journal  have  said  of  the  Desi  element  of  the  Mahratti  can- 
not be  said  of  the  Sanskrit  element  of  any  existing  dialect, 
namely,  that  it  is  more  used  "  among  the  lower  orders  of 
the  people,  and  in  the  business  of  common  life,"  than  any 
other  element.  Between  the  Mahratti,  the  Hindi,  the  Ben- 
gali, and  the  Guzerati  there  is  a  close  relationship.  They 
come  chiefly  from  the  Sanskrit  through  intervening  tongues 
called  Prakrits,  or  "  derived,"  which,  through  the  continued 
use  of  Sanskrit  as  a  literary  language,  were  left  almost 


Origin  of  these  Tongues. 

wholly  unwritten.  Only  one  of  them,  the  Pali,  or  language 
of  Magahda,  the  birth-place  of  Buddhism,  has  been  pre- 
served in  a  distinct  literature. 

These  Prakrits  doubtless  grew  up  in  mixed  communities 
at  the  north,  composed  of  the  Sanskrit-speaking  people  and 
that  portion  of  the  aboriginal  population  that  had  come 
under  their  control.  Thus,  for  the  uses  of  common  life, 
there  came  into  existence,  in  presence  of  the  literary  Sans- 
krit, new  forms  of  speech,  in  which  the  tongues  of  the  two 
different  peoples  were  assimilated,  and,  to  a  greater  or  less- 
er degree,  amalgamated.  This  is  not  the  history  of  the 
Dravidian  languages. 

The  primeval  mother  of  the  Dravidian  languages,  and  of 
the  Desi  element  throughout  India,  was  much  more  ancient 
than  the  Rig- Veda — quite  as  old,  probably,  as  the  original 
source  of  the  whole  Aryan  family.  It  may  have  been  a 
composite  language,  formed  by  a  fusion  of  the  speech  of  the 
ante-Sanskrit  civilizers  with  that  of  the  ruder  aborigines 
found  in  the  country.  If — as  I  believe,  and  as  the  antiqui- 
ties of  the  country  so  clearly  show — these  ante-Sanskrit 
civilizers  were  Cushites  from  Arabia,  the  primal  source 
of  the  Dravidian  or  Desi  speech  must  have  been  a  very  an- 
cient form  of  the  Cushite  tongue,  modified  by  amalgama- 
tion Avith  the  speech  of  the  aborigines,  or  by  such  use  as 
wras  made  of  it  in  the  communities  created  by  the  civilizing 
influence  of  the  Cushites.  Through  how  many  changes 
and  successive  linguistic  forms  the  Dravidian  languages 
came  down  from  that  original  source  cannot  be  told,  nor 
is  it  possible  to  know  how  many  successive  dialects  and 
family  branches  of  that  old  tongue  appeared,  flourished, 
and  perished  during  the  many  ages  of  that  long  period. 

These  languages  have  been  taken  in  hand  by  the  "  Scy  th- 

L 


Pre-Historic  Nations. 

ian"  infatuation,  but  without  success.  The  old  language 
of  Arabia  has  sometimes  been  called  "  Scythian"  and  "Tu- 
ranian." It  would  be  pleasant  to  see  those  who  have  been 
carried  away  by  this  infatuation  undertake  to  define  clear- 
ly what  is  meant  by  the  "  Scythian  family,"  and  write  com- 
parative grammars  of  the  "  Scythian"  languages.  The 
truth  is,  these  terms,  "  Scythian"  and  "  Turanian,"  repre- 
sent, in  great  measure,  a  mysterious  limbo  that  symbolizes 
the  mythical  Babel,  and  into  which  are  crowded,  with  a  few 
things  that  are  partially  understood,  all  the  vague,  uncom- 
prehended,  and  doubtful  peoples  and  tongues  that  linguist- 
ic science  is  not  yet  qualified  to  explain  and  classify. 

The  Dravidian  languages  are  too  little  known  to  com- 
parative philologists,  and  linguistic  studies  are  too  little 
advanced  in  this  direction  to  allow  any  scholar  to  place 
them  in  any  other  family  with  conclusive  reasons  for  doing 
so.  The  first  civilizers  found  in  India  a  dark-colored  race. 
The  "  Scythians"  may  claim  the  original  speech  of  this  race 
if  they  will.  I  shall  not  attempt  to  discredit  their  claim, 
for  it  will  be  amusing  to  see  them  support  the  right  of  that 
primeval  tongue  to  a  place  in  the  "  Scythian  family."  No 
doubt  it  belongs  there.  But  the  languages  of  the  Dra- 
vidian family  must  for  the  present  be  allowed  to  stand 
by  themselves.  Probably  the  most  competent  linguist  ie 
scholar,  if  profoundly  versed  in  the  Dravidian  tongues,  and 
furnished  with  all  possible  aid  to  inquiry,  might  find  it  im- 
possible to  class  them  with  any  other  family.  With  a 
composite  language  for  their  original  source,  and  several 
millennium?  between  them  and  that  source,  the  genetic  re- 
lations and  distinctive  peculiarities  of  the  ancient  speech 
from  which  they  came  must  now  be  too  much  obscured  for 
easy  recognitiou. 


The  oldest  Aryan  Dynasty.  243 


ARYAN   HISTORY   AND   ANTIQUITY. 

All  inquiry  concerning  the  origin  of  the  Sanskrit  race 
and  their  first  appearance  in  India  has  been  greatly  em- 
barrassed by  the  refusal  of  investigators  to  accept  the 
meaning  of  the  old  Iranian  histories.  They  were  histories 
of  the  Aryan  people  in  Asia  for  many  years  before  either 
Media  or  Persia  became  separate  kingdoms.  But  the  in- 
quirer, with  his  imagination  occupied  and  his  mind  bewil- 
dered by  historical  assumptions  and  dates,  which  he  does 
not  allow  himself  to  disturb,  fails  to  see  this,  and  puts  ri- 
diculous invention  in  the  place  of  truth.  While  the  ancient 
history  of  the  Aryan  people,  reproduced  in  the  old  Persian 
books,  is  treated  as  a  history  of  Persia  merely,  confusion 
and 'absurdity  will  be  inevitable.  It  is  no  more  a  history 
of  Persia  than  a  history  of  the  ancient  kingdom  of  Turan 
or  Rum,  of  which  it  says  so  much,  would,  if  it  still  existed, 
be  a  history  of  modern  Turkey. 

According  to  the  old  chronicles  of  Iran  or  Hiras,  the  his- 
tory of  the  Aryan  people  began  with  the  reign  of  the  great 
Abad,  who  was  succeeded  by  thirteen  kings,  his  descend- 
ants. These  constitute  the  Mahabadian  dynasty.  After 
the  close  of  this  dynasty  there  came  a  period  of  wild  disor- 
der, and  "  everything  went  to  ruin."  At  length  Jai  Afram, 
a  descendant  of  Abad,  restored  order,  and  began  a  second 
dynasty,  that  was  long  and  prosperous.  Shai  Glliv  began 
a  third  dynasty,  called  the  Shayian,  which  was  "  happy," 
and  lasted  many  ages.  A  fourth  dynasty,  begun  by  Yasun, 
and  called  the  Yasanian,  had  a  line  of  wise  and  excellent 
princes ;  but  at  its  close, "  the  state  of  mankind  fell  into 
utter  ruin,"  and  there  was  a  long  period  of  frightful  disor- 
der and  bloodshed.  Finally,  Gilshah,  known  in  Iranian  his- 


244  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

tory  as  Kaiamors, "  restored  the  institutes  of  justice,  gave 
battle  to  the  vile  race,"  and  had  an  illustrious  reign.  His 
successors  are  called  the  Gilshayan  monarchs,  and  divided 
into  four  dynasties :  the  Peshdadian,  the  Kaianian,  the  Ash- 
kanian,  and  the  Sassanian.  The  Dabistan  says  there  were 
long  intervals  between  the  several  dynasties  previous  to 
Kaiamors ;  and  "  between  Yasan  and  Gilshah  there  must 
have  elapsed  multiplied  and  numerous  generations." 

Those  who  can  see  nothing  but  Persia  in  this  ancient  his- 
tory coolly  dismiss  the  dynasties  previous  to  Gilshah  as 
fabulous,  do  nothing,  or  worse  than  nothing,  with  the  Pesh- 
dadians,  and  begin  the  history  with  the  Kaianian  dynasty, 
transferring  to  it  all  the  more  distinguished  Peshdadian 
monarchs.  And  then,  by  means  of  "  emendations"  in  the 
usual  style  of  the  manufacturers  of "  chronological  har- 
mony," they  contrive  to  make  it  begin  about  600  years  be- 
fore the  Christian  era.  By  this  process  it  all  becomes  Per- 
sian history,  and  Zoroaster  is  made  to  live  in  the  time  of 
Darius  Hystaspes.  We  are  told  that  Anquetil  du  Perron 
treated  this  matter  with  remarkable  "  ingenuity,"  as  fol- 
lows :  "  The  reigns  of  the  Peshdadian  princes,  as  recorded 
in  the  ancient  books  of  of  the  Persians,  are  true,  or  at  least 
probable,  when  considered  in  a  proper  point  of  view ;  that 
is,  the  reign  or  dynasty  of  Jemshid  as  the  Chaldean  dynas- 
ty of  Julius  Africanus ;  that  of  Zohak  as  the  Arab  dynasty 
of  the  same  author;  and  that  ofFeridun  as  the  dynasty  of 
Beletaran,  ending  with  Sardanapalus."  [See  the  Notes  to 
Shea's  translation  of  Mirkond's  History  of  Persia.]  A 
stroke  of  genius,  no  doubt ;  but  excessive  brilliancy  is  not 
always  pleasant. 

It  was  said  in  the  old  Iranian  books  that  the  Peshdadians 
governed  the  kingdom  of  Hiras,  of  Avhich  Balkh  was  the 


The  Kingdom  of  Hiras.  245 

capital.  The  Dabistan  (which  mentions  twenty  or  thirty 
such  ancient  books  that  are  now  lost)  places  the  beginning 
'of  the  reign  of  Gilshah,  or  Kaiamors,  5371  years  before 
Christ ;  Ferdousi's  estimate  was  3529 ;  and  Sir  William 
Ouseley,  in  his  "Epitome,"  taken  from  the  Jehan  Ara, 
states  the  mean  of  various  dates  referred  to  in  that  work 
to  be  3436  B.C.  There  is  no  authentic  date,  but  the  time 
was  far  back  in  the  past.  The  Greeks,  who  said  Zoroaster 
appeared  6000  years  before  the  death  of  Plato  and  5000 
years  before  the  Trojan  War,  placed  it  farther  back  than 
either  of  the  dates  here  named. 

We  must  put  away  confusion  and  accept  the  fact  that, 
in  ages  long  before  Persia  appeared  as  a  nation,  the  city  of 
Balkh,  or  Bactria,  was  the  capital  of  a  great  kingdom  of  the 
Aryan  people  called  Hiras,  Hiran,  and  Iran.  The  date 
given  in  the  Dabistan  is  more  likely  to  be  worth  attention 
than  the  others  named.  The  territory  included  within  this 
kingdom,  when  it  was  greatest,  may  be  indicated  by  the 
Fourteen  Aryan  Settlements  or  provinces  described  in  the 
Vendidad,  among  which  appears  Bactria  "  with  the  lofty 
banner,"  indicating  its  metropolitan  importance.  These 
"  Settlements"  (following  Haug's  exposition)  are  named  as 
follows:  1.  Sughdha,  or  Sogdiana ;  2.  Mouru,  or  Margiana, 
called  also  Merv ;  3.  Bakhdi,  or  Bactria,  with  Balkh  for  its 
chief  city ;  4.  Nisaya,  or  Northern  Parthia,  the  Nisaia  of 
Ptolemy ;  5.  Haroyu,  or  Aria,  the  Hariva  of  the  cuneiform 
inscriptions ;  6.  Vekereta,  or  Segestan,  the  home  of  Rustem, 
so  famous  in  the  old  Iranian  histories ;  7.  Urva,  or  Cabul, 
as  Haug  has  shown ;  8.  Khnenta,  or  Kandahar ;  9.  Hara- 
quaiti,  or  Arachosia;  10.  Hetumat,  or  the  district  of  Hil- 
mend ;  11.  Ragha,  or  Northern  Media,  where  Ptolemy  and 
Strabo  place  a  city  of  Rhagse;  12.  Kakhra,  or  Khorassan; 


246  P re-Historic  Nations. 

13.  Varena,  or  Ghilan;  14.  Haptu-IIindu,  or  the  Punjab. 
Haptu-Hindu  was  in  India,  being  the  region  between  the 
Indus  and  the  Sutlej, "  the  land  of  the  seven  rivers,"  called  • 
in  the  Veda,  also,  the  country  of  the  seven  rivers,  and  some- 
times the  country  of  the  five  rivers.  It  probably  included 
territory  west  of  the  Indus. 

The  Iranian  record  of  kings  and  dynasties  previous  to 
Gilshah,  or  Kaiamors,  doubtless  preserves  recollections  of 
the  history  of  the  Aryan  people  during  their  residence  in 
Upper  Asia  before  the  family  separated.  Kaiamors  and 
his  successors,  with  the  great  kingdom  of  Hiras,  must  rep- 
resent the  period  when  the  Zend  and  Sanskrit  branches  of 
the  family  still  lived  together  as  one  people  and  used  a 
common  language.  In  the  later  ages  of  this  kingdom  the 
Vedic  and  Zend  dialects  were  developed.  There  may  have 
been  both  political  and  religious  division ;  but  we  cannot 
explain  the  circumstances  that  led  the  Vedic  branch  of  the 
race  to  invade  India  beyond  the  Sutlej,  and  establish  them- 
selves in  the  valley  of  the  Upper  Ganges.  Kings  must 
have  continued  to  reign  at  Balkh,  over  a  lessened  kingdom, 
long  after  this  movement  took  place ;  but  it  is  plain  that, 
previous  to  the  movement  of  the  Vedic  family  to  occupy 
Northern  India  beyond  the  Sutlej,  they  dwelt  a  long  time 
in  Haptu-Hindu,  then  a  province  of  the  kingdom  of  Hiras. 

The  refusal  to  see  anything  more  in  the  old  Iranian  rec> 
ords  than  Persian  history  is  so  preposterous,  and  has  cre- 
ated so  much  confusion  and  absurdity,  that  it  is  not  easy 
to  understand  how  it  has  been  possible.  Nearly  a  hun- 
dred years  ago,  it  led  an  ardent  scholar,  John  Richardson, 
in  his  "  Dissertation  on  the  Languages,  etc.,  of  the  Eastern 
Nations,"  to  deny  the  truthfulness  of  Greek  history,  and 
speak  of  it  as  pure  romance.  Having  dismissed  as  fabulous 


Richardson's  Perplexities.  247 

all  the  ages  of  Aryan  history  previous  to  the  Kaianian 
dynasty,  and  identified  the  first  king  of  that  dynasty  with 
the  Median  Cyaxares,  he  read  everything  in  the  old  chron- 
icles as  Persian  history  after  that  date;  but  he  was  per- 
plexed to  find  it  so  totally  different  from  Persian  history 
as  written  by  the  Greeks ;  he  declared  them  to  be  as  much 
unlike  as  "  the  annals  of  England  and  Japan."  In  what  he 
assumed  to  be  Persian  history,  there  was  "  no  mention  of 
Cyrus  the  Great,"  nor  of  any  king  who  could  be  forced  to 
resemble  him;  "not  a  vestige  of  the  famous  battles  of  Mar- 
athon, Thermopylae,  Salamis,  Plataea,  and  Mycale,"  nor  a 
single  trace  of"  the  most  splendid  facts  of  the  Greek  histo- 
rians." Therefore  Mr.  Richardson,  instead  of  correcting  his 
own  falsification  of  Persian  history,  accused  the  Greeks  of 
falsehood  and  discredited  their  histories.  This  is  more 
logical  than  the  "harmonies"  attempted  by  some  others 
who  have  treated  Iranian  history  in  the  same  way,  but  it 
is  no  less  absurd. 

THE   VEDA   AND   THE   VEDIC   AGE. 

The  Rig-Veda  shows  us  that  the  earliest  seat  of  the  In- 
do-Aryans  was  in  the  upper  valley  of  the  Indus,  on  both 
sides  of  that  river.  This  was  Haptu-Hindu  in  Zend,  and 
Saptu-Sindhavas  according  to  the  Vedic  speech.  It  was 
chiefly  that  country  in  Northwestern  India  now  called  the 
Punjab.  They  must  have  dwelt  there  a  long  time.  The 
earliest  songs  of  the  Rig- Veda  must  have  been  written  in 
Haptu-Hindu  while  it  was  a  province  of  the  kingdom  of 
the  Hirasis,  or  not  long  after  the  separation.  The  Veda 
shows  their  long  residence  there,  and  also  the  progress  of 
their  invading  march  from  the  Sutlej  to  the  Sarasvati,  in 
the  upper  valley  of  the  Ganges,  where  they  were  estab- 


248  P  re-Historic  Nations. 

lishcd  during  the  first  great  period  of  their  purely  Indian 
history. 

These  invading  Aryans  were  intense  and  fanatical  relig- 
ious enthusiasts.  In  the  Veda  they  are  described  as  "  the 
twice -born,"  "  the  righteous,"  "the  sacrificers,"  and  the 
like;  while  the  people  they  found  dwelling  in  India  are 
impious  "  Dasyus,"  demons,  devil-worshippers,  a  vile  race, 
"who  observe  no  sacred  rites."  Their  right  to  subjugate 
the  country  is  explained  thus :  "  Indra  subjects  the  impious 
to  the  pious,  and  destroys  the  irreligious  by  the  religious." 
They  pray  to  Indra,  "  Hurl  thy  shaft  against  the  Dasyu, 
and  increase  the  might  and  glory  of  the  Arya ;"  and  Indra, 
"  armed  with  lightning,"  moves  about,  "  shattering  the  cit- 
ies of  the  Dasyus,"  and  is  described  as  the  destroyer  of 
"  the  godless  cities"  of  the  Dasyus,"  from  which  we  may 
infer  that  the  old  inhabitants  of  India,  described  as  Dasy- 
us, had  cities,  settled  life,  and  civilization.  "Ancient  cit- 
ies" of  the  Dasyus  are  mentioned ;  also  cities  built  of  stone, 
and  cities  which  the  invading  Aryans  attacked  by  block- 
ade or  siege. 

The  Dasyus,  or  native  inhabitants  of  India,  were  not  like 
their  invaders  either  in  race  or  religion.  Moreover,  they 
were  "  black-skinned,"  while  the  Aryans  were  white.  This 
is  frequently  mentioned.  The  Aryans  are  "the  bright 
race,"  while  the  Dasyus  are  described  as  "  the  dark  race," 
and  ''  the  host  of  black  descent ;"  and  Indra  is  praised  be- 
cause "  he  destroyed  the  Dasyus  and  protected  the  Aryan 
color."  These  expressions  are  used  to  mark  the  difference 
in  color  and  race  between  the  white  Aryans  and  the  abo- 
rigines, or  native  inhabitants,  whom  they  found  in  posses- 
sion of  the  country.  They  can  mean  nothing  else.  Of 
course,  the  Veda  undertakes  no  formal  description  of  the 


The  Phallic  Worship  noticed.  249 

aboriginal  inhabitants.  It  has  no  formal  discussions  of  ei- 
ther their  religion,  language,  or  social  condition ;  but  their 
unlikeness  to  the  Aryans  is  plainly  indicated.  "  Wealthy 
Dasyus"  are  mentioned  in  the  Mahabharata,  who  lived  "  in 
a  prosperous  condition,"  and  tempted  Aryan  saints  to  asso- 
ciate with  them ;  but  this  was  at  a  later  period,  when  the 
"  twice-born"  children  of  the  Veda  were  beginning  to  hu- 
manize that  intense  and  terrible  fanaticism  which  had  reg- 
ulated their  treatment  of  the  Dasyus  at  the  beginning. 

There  are  some  passages  of  the  Veda  that  seem  to  indi- 
cate that  these  intense  Aryan  invaders  saw,  in  the  religion 
of  the  Dasyus,  either  Phallus  worship  or  something  akin  to 
it,  for  they  express  a  feeling  like  what  might  naturally  be 
aroused  in  them  by  observing  the  rites  and  symbols  of  that 
worship  without  comprehending  their  significance.  In  the 
Rig- Veda,  vii.,  21, 5,  the  worshipper  prays,  "Let  not  the  las- 
civious wretches  (or  those  who  make  a  god  of  the.  sisna, 
i.  e.y  of  the  membrum  virile)  approach  our  sacred  rite ;"  and 
in  x.,  99,  3,  we  read, "  When  smiting  the  [city]  with  a  hun- 
dred portals,  the  irresistible  [Indra]  overcame  the  lascivi- 
ous wretches."  Mr.  Muir,  in  his  "  Sanskrit  Texts,"  calls  at- 
tention to  these  expressions,  and  also  to  the  Vedic  word 
sisnadeva.  He  observes  that  "Roth  thinks  the  wrord  [sis- 
nadeva]  is  a  scornful  appellation  for  priapic  or  sensual  de- 
mons." The  Phallus-worshipping  aborigines  were  natural- 
ly called  demons  by  the  "  twice-born"  Aryans.  Mr.  Muir 
expresses  some  uncertainty ;  but  it  cannot  be  disputed  that 
the  Phallic  worship  connected  with  Baal  or  Siva  prevailed 
throughout  India  in  the  ante- Vedic  ages.  The  Aryans 
certainly  found  it  there,  and  we  may  reasonably  presume 
that  these  passages  of  the  Veda  express  their  execration 
of  its  rites. 

L2 


250  Pre-IIistoriG  Nations. 

Scholars  who  have  carefully  studied  the  Vedic  litera- 
ture agree  in  the  opinion  that  the  Indo-Aryans  paused  in 
the  valley  of  the  Upper  Ganges  a  long  time — probably  sev- 
eral centuries — before  proceeding  to  occupy  the  country 
farther  east,  and  that  "  there  the  Brahmanical  institutions 
must  have  been  developed  and  matured,  and,  perhaps,  the 
collection  of  the  Vedic  hymns  completed,  and  the  canon 
closed ;"  or,  as  Lassen  has  it,  the  germs  imported  from 
without  were  first  planted,  cultivated,  and  brought  to  ma- 
turity in  Hindustan,  in  the  country  adjacent  to  the  Saras- 
vati  River.  There  must  have  been  a  long  distance  in  time 
between  the  Veda  and  the  Brahmanas.  In  the  matured 
Brahmanical  system  Indra  is  dethroned  by  Brahma,  who 
does  not  appear  in  the  Veda  as  a  deity,  and  the  leading 
Vedic  divinities  have  either  disappeared  or  been  trans- 
formed. In  the  literature  of  that  system  the  Vedic  lan- 
guage itself  is  superseded  by  Sanskrit. 

There  is  neither  history  nor  chronology  of  the  long  pe- 
riod required  for  these  changes,  but  their  character,  and 
what  we  know  of  the  process  by  wThich  such  changes  are 
effected,  indicate  its  extent.  I  cannot  suppose  that  the 
Brahmanical  system  matured  on  the  Sarasvati  was  the  same 
as  that  known  to  us  as  modern  Brahmanism,  which  must  be 
a  late  reconstruction  of  the  old  system ;  but  it  was  so  differ- 
ent from  the  simpler  religion  of  the  Veda,  both  in  it&  divin- 
ities and  its  organization,  that  many  ages  must  have  been 
required  for  the  gradual  growth  of  the  changes  by  which 
this  difference  was  produced. 

In  the  next  ages,  that  Aryan  country  on  the  Sarasvati 
was  the  holy  land  of  the  Brahmans.  They  called  it  Brali- 
mftvartta.  The  following  is  from  a  frequently  quoted  pas- 
sage of  Manu :  "  The  tract  fashioned  by  the  gods,  which 


A  Mixture  of  the  Races.  251 

lies  between  the  two  divine  rivers  Sarasvati  and  Drishad- 
vati,  is  called  Brahmavartta.  The  usage  relating  to  castes 
and  mixed  castes,  that  has  been  traditionally  received  in 
that  country,  is  called  the  pure  usage."  He  describes  as 
Aryavartta  a  region  north  of  the  Vindhya  Mountains,  from 
the  valley  of  the  Indus  to  the  mouth  of  the  Ganges,  saying 
that  beyond  its  limits  lay  "  the  country  of  the  Mlechhas," 
or  Dasyus.  "Twice-born  men"  were  required  to  remain 
within  the  limits  of  Aryavartta,  "  but  a  Sudra  may  dwell 
anywhere."  We  see,  therefore,  that  Manu  appeared  later 
than  this  first  development  of  the  Brahmanical  system,  and 
that  when  he  wrote,  the  Indo-Aryans  had  left  Brahmavart- 
ta to  occupy  the  whole  lower  vall.ey  of  the  Ganges  down 
to  the  Bay  of  Bengal. 

Previous  to  this  movement  they  had  occupied  but  a  small 
part  of  India,  and  probably  they  were  at  all  times  much 
less  numerous  than  the  aboriginal  population.  It  may  be 
presumed  that  fanatical  exclusiveness  was  beginning  to  re- 
lax its  severity  when  they  took  possession  of  the  country 
on  the  Lower  Ganges,  and  that  closer  relations  were  estab- 
lished between  the  Aryas  and  the  Dasyus ;  for  at  this  pe- 
riod, or  at  a  period  not  much  later,  must  have  begun  that 
mixture  of  the  two  races  in  which  the  white  Aryan  color 
finally  disappeared.  This  mixture  is  an  incontestable  fact, 
but  nothing  indicates  that  it  could  have  begun  at  any  time 
during  the  Vedic  age.  It  must,  however,  have  begun  at  a 
very  early  period,  for  it  was  complete,  even  in  the  Punjab, 
long  before  the  time  of  Alexander  the  Great,  who  found 
there  but  one  color,  and  apparently  but  one  race.  We 
learn  from  Megasthenes  and  Arrian  that  "  the  natives  of 
India  and  Ethiopia  are  not  much  different  in  their  features 
or  complexion."  It  was  noticed,  says  Megasthenes,  that 


252  Pre-Hiatoric  Nations. 

the  people  of  Southern  India  were  darker  in  color  than 
those  at  the  north,  and  also  that  "  the  Astaceni  and  the 
Assaceni,"  two  Indian  peoples  dwelling  on  the  west  bank 
of  the  Indus,  were  "  not  altogether  so  swarthy"  as  those 
cast  of  that  river. 

It  may  be  inferred  from  passages  in  the  Sanskrit  books 
that  after  the  Indo-Aryans  occupied  the  country  on  the 
Lower  Ganges  known  as  Maghada  and  Behar,  but  more 
anciently  as  Kikata,  Brahmanism  was  affected  by  some 
great  and  successful  influence  of  the  aboriginal  inhabitants 
and  their  religion.  Kikata  was  probably  a  civilized  and 
important  country  of  the  Dasyus,  and  most  of  its  people 
may  have  become  incorporated  with  the  Aryans  who  con- 
quered and  occupied  it.  At  any  rate,  after  the  Aryan  oc- 
cupation of  that  country,  the  "  twice-born"  Sanskrit  wor- 
shippers connected  with  Brahmavartta  did  not  regard  it  as 
a  land  of  faultless  Brahmanism,  but  rather  as  a  country  in 
which  the  true  religion  had  lost  the  holy  flavor  of  ortho- 
doxy. But  it  was  not  wholly  excluded  from  the  pale  of 
the  faithful,  as  may  be  seen  in  the  following  passage  from 
the  Bhagavad  Purana,  quoted  by  Mr.  Muir  in  his  "  Sanskrit 
Texts,"  part  ii.,  p.  363  :  "  In  every  place  where  those  who 
are  devoted  to  me,  who  are  calm,  who  regard  all  things  as 
alike,  and  who  are  holy  and  virtuous,  are  born,  the  men 
[of  that  country]  are  purified,  even  if  they  be  Kikatas." 

Professor  Weber,  noticing  the  doubt  expressed  by  some 
concerning  the  origin  of  these  Kikatas,  shows,  what  the 
Snnskrit  books  make  plain,  that  they  were  Aryans  who  did 
not  faithfully  observe  the  Brahmanical  rites.  He  thinks 
"they  may  have  been  Buddhists,  or  the  forerunners  of 
Buddhism."  It  is  well  known  that  Kikata,  or  Maghada, 
was  the  birth-place  of  both  Buddhism  and  the  Pali  Ian- 


The  Aryans  in  Southern  India.  253 

guage ;  and  the  inspiration  of  Buddhism  came  largely  from 
the  doctrines  of  the  Cushite  system  of  planet  worship, which 
had  prevailed  in  India  previous  to  the  Aryan  invasion,  and 
with  which  the  phallic  and  serpent  worship  were  intimate- 
ly associated. 

At  a  later  period  the  Sanskrit  race  went  beyond  the 
Vindhya  Mountains  into  Southern  India.  An  invasion  of 
that  country,  and  a  war  with  Ravana,  king  of  Ceylon,  fur- 
nish the  subject  of  the  Ramayana ;  but  they  never  occupied 
the  Dakshin  as  they  occupied  the  valley  of  the  Ganges. 
The  Sanskrit  did  not  supersede  the  aboriginal  tongues  in 
the  Dekhan,  and  the  invaders  found  it  necessary  to  absorb, 
or  to  reconstruct  and  modify,  the  old  religion,  which  they 
could  not  exterminate.  It  may  be  doubted  whether  the 
pure  and  stainless  orthodoxy  matured  in  the  holy  land  of 
the  Brahmans,  Brahmavartta,  entirely  escaped  the  modify- 
ing influence  of  the  old  religion  in  any  other  part  of  India. 
If  its,  modern  representative  could  be  submitted  to  the 
judgment  of  the  great  Brahmans  of  the  Sarasvati,  they 
would  unquestionably  regard  it  as  a  fallen  creature,  de- 
filed and  transformed  by  unlawful  association  with  Rak- 
shasas. 

RELIGIOUS    HISTORY    OF   SANSKRIT   IXDIA. 

Some  Oriental  scholars  have  argued  with  much  earnest- 
ness and  ingenuity  to  show  that  Buddhism  and  the  Pali 
language  are  older  than  Brahmanism  and  the  Sanskrit  lan- 
guage. They  are  mistaken  in  their  conclusions,  and  yet 
not  entirely  wrong.  They  show  conclusively  that  Buddh- 
ism must  be  older  than  modern  Brahmanism,  but  they  do 
not  show  that  there  was  not  another  and  much  more  an- 
cient Brahmanical  system,  developed  and  matured  while 


254  Pre-IIistoric  Nations. 

the  Sanskrit  was  in  the  brightest  age  of  its  history  as  a 
spoken  language,  and  long  before  the  Pali  made  its  appear- 
ance. What  we  know  as  the  Brahmanism  of  India  cannot 
be  very  ancient.  It  is  full  of  elements  foreign  to  the  San- 
skrit race ;  it  worships  gods  whom  they  did  not  bring  into 
India,  and  who  were  unknown  in  the  Pantheon  at  Brahma- 
vartta.  Like  the  modem  tongues  of  the  country,  it  is  full 
of  materials  borrowed  from  the  "  Dasyus"  or  "  Rukshasas," 
in  mixture  with  whom  the  Indo-Aryans  themselves  lost 
their  white  color.  This  cannot  be  the  Brahmanism  to 
which  Manu  gave  laws  in  the  "  divine  country"  on  the  Sar- 
asvati,  nor  of  any  age  while  Sanskrit  was  still  learned  of 
mothers  and  nurses,  and  still  used  in  all  the  intercourse  of 
common  life. 

Neither  the  Sanskrit  nor  the  Pali  books  give  us  anything 
like  a  regular  history  of  religious  development,  change,  and 
reconstruction  in  the  various  countries  of  India ;  but  they 
enable  us  to  see  that  original  and  pure  Brahmanism — the 
Brahmanism  of  the  time  of  Manu — came  into  existence  be- 
fore the  Sanskrit  race  established  their  supremacy  in  the 
lower  valley  of  the  Ganges,  and  that  Buddhism  did  not  ap- 
pear until  the  kingdom  of  Kikata,  afterward  called  Ma- 
gadha  and  Behar,  became  important  and  influential.  At 
first,  and  for  a  long  tune,  the  two  systems  must  have  exist- 
ed as  two  differing  schools  in  the  same  religious  commu- 
nion ;  Buddhism  being  a  visible  but  undeveloped  heresy, 
with  a  very  distinct  and  positive  individuality  in  its  ele- 
ments and  tendencies,  but  not  yet  sufficiently  matured  and 
organized  to  create  actual  separation. 

Buddhism  was  much  older  than  Gautama,  or  Sakhya- 
Muni,  the  Buddha  of  the  Ceylonese  records.  He  was  only 
one  of  its  prophets.  A  passage  in  the  Raja  Taringini,  a  re- 


Buddhism  and  the  Buddhas.  255 

•  *• 

ligious  history  of  Kashmir,  translated  by  Mr.  Tumour, 
shows  (for  it  plainly  has  this  meaning)  that  in  China,  Thib- 
et, and  Nepal, "  six  Arhatas,  or  mortal  predecessors  of  Gau- 
tama" (Buddha),  are  recognised;  and  this  accords  with  the 
fact  that  the  Jainas,  whose  religious  system  originated  in 
Buddhism,  celebrate  Kasyapa,  one  of  these  predecessors, 
as  their  great  prophet,  claiming  that  the  Buddhists  them- 
selves followed  him  before  Gautama  appeared. 

Eugene  Burnouf  found  it  difficult  to  comprehend  the 
very  intimate  relations  between  Buddhism  and  Siva  wor- 
ship. Perhaps  a  clearer  perception  of  the  real  significance 
of  this  worship,  with  a  more  cai'eful  consideration  of  the 
circumstances  under  which  Buddhism  came  into  existence, 
might  have  lessened  the  difficulty.  He  recognised  the  an- 
tiquity of  this  system  of  religion  by  speaking  of  Sakhya- 
Muni  as  "  the  last  of  the  seven  human  Buddhas  of  whom 
tradition  has  preserved  recollections."  Buddhism  was  the 
growth  of  many  ages  preceding  that  in  which  Sakhya-Muni 
appeared.  Its  system  of  doctrine  and  practice  was  com- 
pletely developed  before  his  time,  and  this  fact  explains 
why  the  various  Buddhist  sects  have  differed  and  disputed 
so  much  concerning  the  date  of  his  appearance. 

Professor  H.  H.  Wilson,  finding  among  these  sects  not 
less  than  twenty  different  dates  for  the  time  of  his  birth, 
varying  from  2420  B.C.  to  453  B.C.,  made  this  a  reason  for 
doubting  whether  such  a  person  ever  existed.  "We  may 
reasonably  deny  that  he  was  the  original  founder  of  Buddh- 
ism, but  he  was  undoubtedly  one  of  its  great  teachers. 
Burnouf  thinks  his  teaching  was  oral,  and  doubts  whether 
he  left  any  writings.  Fa-hian,  a  Chinese  Buddhist  who 
spent  several  years  in  India  between  399  and  414  A.D., 
stated  his  personal  knowledge  of  Buddhist  sects  there  that 


256  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

specially  honored  the  names  of  three  Buddhas,  immediate 
predecessors  of  Sakhya-Muni,  but  refused  to  honor  him  as 
a  Buddha. 

The  successful  development  and  final  supremacy  of 
Buddhism  in  India  were  due,  in  great  measure,  to  the 
power  and  influence  of  the  kingdom  of  Magadha.  In  that 
kingdom  its  gradual  growth  was  protected ;  and  when  it 
came  to  an  open  warfare  with  Brahmanism,  Magadha  was 
supreme  throughout  Northern  India.  Brahmanism  was. 
defeated  and  driven  into  obscurity,  and  for  ten  or  eleven 
centuries  Buddhism  was  the  dominant  religion  of  the  land. 
It  is  probable  that  both  Magadha  and  the  religion  it  pro- 
tected had  much  greater  influence  with  the  aboriginal  in- 
habitants than  Brahmanism,  and  were  strengthened  by 
their  support;  for  Buddhism  opposed  the  arrogance  of 
caste,  and  preached  equality.  It  drew  much  from  the  re- 
ligion of  the  primitive  inhabitants,  while  it  won  their  sym- 
pathy and  support  against  the  Brahmans.  Buddhism  ap- 
pears to  have  had  a  somewhat  larger  influence  in  Southern 
India  than  had  been  possible  to  Brahmanism ;  and  it  took 
possession  of  Ceylon,  where  Brahmanism  never  found  en- 
trance. It  was  established  in  the  countries  of  Farther  In- 
dia; it  crossed  the  Indus;  it  passed  over  the  Himalaya 
Mountains  into  Thibet ;  it  went  to  China ;  and,  although  it 
was  subsequently  expelled  from  India,  it  is  still  the  religion 
of  nearly  one  third  of  the  human  race. 

In  the  seventh  century  of  the  Christian  era  Magadha  no 
longer  existed  as  an  all-powerful  kingdom.  There  were 
great  political  changes,  and  with  them  came  religious 
changes.  Buddhism  was  declining,  and  Brahmanism  was 
gaining  strength  and  influence.  The  reigning  princes  were 
no  longer  all  Buddhists ;  the  Brahmans  were  coming  into 


Sakhycts  Buddhism  overthrown.  257 

power.  The  inscriptions  began  to  mention  them,  at  first 
with  respect,  as  a  class  on  whom  royal  favor  was  bestowed ; 
then  as  "  lords  of  the  earth ;"  and  at  last  their  position  is  in- 
dicated by  the  terms  used  in  an  inscription  at  Chatapur, 
dated  in  the  year  1016  A.D.,  which  describes  them  as  those 
"  whose  feet  earthly  kings  adored."  The  downfall  of  Buddh- 
ism seems  to  have  been  effected  by  a  combined  and  persist- 
ent attack  of  the  Brahmans,  the  Saivas,  communities  repre- 
senting the  ante-Sanskrit  religion  of  the  country,  and  all 
the  Buddhist  sectaries  who  rejected  Sakhya-Muni,  or  made 
his  teachings  subordinate  to  other  features  of  the  more  an- 
cient Buddhism.  The  Buddhism  of  Sakhya  was  finally  ex- 
pelled from  India ;  but  the  Brahmanism  developed  by  this 
successful  crusade  was  no  longer  that  of  Manu  and  the 
great  teachers  of  the  ancient  Brahmavartta. 

Sakhya-Muni,  instead  of  being  the  founder  of  Buddhism, 
was  merely  the  representative  of  one  particular  and  very 
popular  development  of  that  system.  The  Jainas,  who  still 
remain  in  India,  are  really  Buddhists  who  profess  to  follow 
thr  teachings  of  his  immediate  predecessor.  The  Saivas,  a 
numerous  and  powerful  sect,  probably  had  their  origin  in 
Buddhism,  and  represented  features  of  that  system  which 
did  not  appear  very  distinctly  in  the  teachings  of  Sakhya 
and  his  disciples.  We  must  suppose  there  may  have  been 
much  in  ancient  Buddhism  that  did  not  appear  prominent- 
ly in  that  particular  development  of  it  which  Asoka  made 
the  established  religion  of  his  empire. 

The  sect  called  Saivas  may  have  been  anciently  a  Buddh- 
ist school  in  which  the  elements  drawn  from  the  ante-San- 
skrit religion  of  India  were  more  fully  represented  than  in 
any  other.  It  had  risen  to  great  influence  when  the  Buddh- 
ism of  Sakhya-Muni  was  overthrown ;  and  after  this  event 


258  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

it  seems  to  have  been  absorbed  by  the  reconstructed  Brah- 
manisrn  that  took  the  place  of  the  fallen  system.  Like  the 
Buddhists,  the  Saivas  rejected  the  Vedas ;  and  Burnouf  re- 
fers to  "  a  considerable  number  of  gods  and  goddesses,  ver- 
itable Saivite  divinities,  such  as  Mahakala,  Yamantaka, 
Bhairava,  Durga,  Mahakali,  and  others  that  were  really 
borrowed  from  the  popular  religion  of  the  Indians." 

MODEEX   BRAHMAXISM. 

Dr.  Stevenson  says :  "  Three  different  systems  of  belief 
have  contributed  to  the  formation  of  modern  Hinduism  [or 
Brahmanism],  namely,  ancient  Brahmanism,  Buddhism,  and 
the  ante-Brahmanical  religion  of  the  country."  He  is  sure 
that  the  worship  of  Siva  was  "  an  aboriginal  superstition 
of  the  country,"  and  that  the  Brahmans  adopted  it  to  gain 
influence  with  people  of  the  old  race.  It  is  plain,  however, 
that  they  adopted  it  because  the  Saivas  were  a  power  iu 
the  land.  As  Dr.  Stevenson  observes,  wherever  the  Brah- 
mans found  among  the  people  a  god  whom  they  deemed  it 
politic  to  reverence,  they  straightway  made  him  an  avatar 
of  one  of  their  own  gods.  He  says  innumerable  local  ava- 
tars of  gods  have  thus  sprung  up  throughout  the  country, 
and  found  celebration  in  manufactured  legends  or  Mdhdt 
my  as  of  the  Puranas. 

The  later  Brahmans  aimed  to  conciliate  and  absorb  every- 
thing ;  but  there  are  many  districts  where  they  have  never 
been  able  to  supersede  the  old  religion ;  and  even  the  amal- 
gamation of  Brahmanism  with  Siva  worship  is  not  perfect. 
Dr.  Stevenson  states,  from  his  own  extensive  observation, 
that  he  can  vouch  for  the  fact  that,  in  the  Marathi  country, 
where  Saivas  greatly  prevail,  no  Brahman  officiates  in  a 
linga  temple.  The  same  appears  to  be  true  in  the  Dekhan ; 


Indian  History  falsified.  259 

and  here  it  may  be  stated  that  the  ante-Sanskrit  origin  of 
Siva  worship  is  plainly  signified  by  the  fact  that  its  chief 
seats  and  most  sacred  places  are  in  those  parts  of  the  coun- 
try where  the  influence  of  the  Sanskrit  race,  whether  as 
Brahmans  or  Buddhists,  has  always  been  weakest — in  the 
north-east  and  at  the  south,  where  the  worshippers  of  Siva 
are  far  more  numerous  than  those  of  Vishnu. 

The  Brahmans  could  not  have  been  wholly  without  or- 
ganization and  influence  during  the  Buddhist  ages,  for 
they  kept  the  Sanskrit  language  in  use  as  a  literary  lan- 
guage, and  they  carefully  preserved  the  old  Vedic  and 
Sanskrit  books ;  but  their  endeavor  to  connect  the  origin 
of  modern  Brahmanism  with  the  oldest  traditions  of  their 
class,  and  make  it  appear  to  be  the  same  system  that  was 
developed  in  the  early  times  at  Brahmavartta,  has  led  them 
to  destroy  some  of  the  books,  revise  and  interpolate  others, 
and  to  do  all  hi  their  power  to  hide  or  obscure  the  inter- 
vening religious  history  of  India.  It  cannot  well  be  doubt- 
ed that  the  Puranas  have  been  reconstructed  to  a  certain 
extent.  While,  as  Colonel  Wilford  pointed  out,  they  con- 
tain much  that  bears  internal  evidence  of  great  antiquity, 
there  are  other  portions  of  their  contents  that  cannot  be 
very  old.  Wilford  said :  "  I  am  sometimes  tempted  to  be- 
lieve, from  some  particular  passages  in  the  Puranas  which 
have  the  true  historical  style,  that  the  Hindus  have  de- 
stroyed, or  at  least  designedly  consigned  to  oblivion,  all 
genuine  records  militating  against  their  system."  Mr. 
Wathen  believed  that,  "  on  the  Mussulman  conquest  of 
India,  the  Brahmans  destroyed  all  previous  historical  doc- 
uments," and  said,  "  they  seem,  nevertheless,  to  have  care- 
firlly  preserved,  invented,  or  adapted  such  compositions 
in  Sanskrit  as  attested  their  own  religious  supremacy." 


260  Pre-IIistoric  Nations. 

While  the  Puranas  undoubtedly  contain  genuine  records 
of  great  antiquity,  we  cannot  safely  trust  those  portions  of 
them  that  relate  to  the  connection  of  modern  Brahmanism 
with  ancient  times. 

INDIAN   HISTORY   AND    CHRONOLOGY. 

There  is  nothing  in  the  monuments  or  literature  of  India 
that  affords  materials  for  a  chronological  history  of  the 
country,  or  that  furnishes  a  basis  for  any  hypothetical 
scheme  of  such  a  history.  There  is  in  the  Pali  language  a 
history  of  Ceylon,  deemed  authentic,  that  goes  back  to  the 
year  543  before  the  Christian  Era ;  and  there  is  a  history 
of  Kashmir,  the  Raja  Taringini,  of  which  Professor  Wilson 
spoke  as  "  the  only  Sanskrit  composition  yet  discovered  to 
which  the  title  of  history  can  with  any  propriety  be  ap- 
plied." It  is  difficult  to  believe  that  written  annals  of 
Magadhi,  Oude,  and  other  Indian  kingdoms  never  existed. 
The  Jainas  accuse  the  Brahmans  of  having  destroyed  "  all 
the  historical  books  in  existence  wherever  they  gained  the 
ascendency ;"  and  they  assert,  also,  that  the  Puranas  were 
originally  historical  works,  and  that  Parasurama,  Ramchan- 
dra,  Krishna,  and  others,  celebrated  as  divine  heroes,  were 
merely  great  kings  who  reigned  in  Oude  and  other  Brah- 
manical  countries  in  ancient  times.  It  seems  very  clear 
that  these  charges  against  the  Brahmans  are  true.  The 
lost  history  cannot  be  recovered;  but  certain  facts  appear, 
in  the  course  of  these  inquiries,  that  engage  attention,  and 
furnish  important  suggestions. 

We  see  in  the  Veda  itself  that  the  people  found  in  India 
by  the  Sanskrit  race  were  a  civilized  people,  who  had  im- 
portant cities,  and,  of  course,  settled  life  and  political  Or- 
ganization. It  is  preposterous,  and  utterly  unwarranted 


The  ante-Vedic  Civilisation.  261 

by  any  fact  whatever,  to  approach  this  investigation  with 
the  mind  and  imagination  preoccupied  by  the  assumption 
that  the  people  of  India  were  all  savages  before  the  Aryans 
went  there.  Nothing  to  justify  this  assumption  can  be 
found  in  the  Veda,  for  the  terms  of  religious  hatred  and  ex- 
ecration bestowed  upon  the  native  inhabitants  by  the  fa- 
naticism of  the  invading  Aryans  cannot  have  this  meaning. 
When  we  read  in  the  Veda  that  the  Dasyus,  Rakshasas, 
and  demons,  as  they  were  called,  had  important  cities, 
''  cities  built  of  stone,"  "  ancient  cities,"  cities  that  were  at- 
tacked by  siege  and  blockade,  we  see  clearly  that  the  abo- 
riginal inhabitants  of  India  were  civilized. 

It  is  probable  that  the  highest  condition  of  their  civili- 
zation existed  in  the  kingdoms  of  the  southern  country  and 
on  the  Lower  Ganges;  but  civilization  was  found  in  that 
part  of  India  first  visited  and  occupied  by  the  Sanskrit  race. 
Fa-hian,  the  Chinese  traveler,  learned  in  India  that  the  an- 
cient "  Rakshasas"  and  "  demons"  of  Ceylon  were  a  civil- 
ized and  commercial  people.  In  the  Ramayana,  the  people 
of  the  Dekhan  are  called  not  only  Rakshasas,  but  also 
"  monkeys ;"  but  there  is  mention  of  their  kings,  kingdoms, 
wealth,  golden  ornaments,  and  rich  gifts  to  Rama,  which 
very  distinctly  indicates  their  civilization.  We  see  it,  also, 
in  those  antiquities  of  the  country,  which  must  be  referred 
to  ages  before  the  Aryan  immigration,  and  which  so  clear- 
ly connect  that  ante-Sanskrit  civilization  with  the  Arabian 
Cushites.  Civilization  must  have  come  from  Arabia  to  In- 
dia at  a  period  that  was  already  in  the  misty  deeps  of  an- 
tiquity when  the  oldest  hymns  of  the  Veda  were  written. 

The  history  of  the  Aryan  race  in  India  may  be  divided 
into  four  distinct  periods.  1.  The  Vedic  age,  which  began 
when  the  Indo- Aryans  were  dwelling  in  Haptu-Hindu,  and 


262  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

closed  at  some  period  after  their  settlement  at  Brahma vart- 
ta  on  the  Sarasvati.  During  this  period  they  occupied  but 
a  small  part  of  the  country.  2.  The  ancient  Brahmanical 
period,  which  began  at  Brahmiivartta,  and  terminated  when 
the  supremacy  of  Buddhism  was  established.  This  was  the 
period  of  the  Sanskrit  language.  The  Vedic  tongue  had 
ceased  to  exist  save  in  the  old  books,  and  there  were  im- 
portant changes  in  the  Vedic  Pantheon.  A  very  long  pe- 
riod of  time  was  required  for  such  changes,  to  which  must 
be  added  all  the  time  necessary  for  the  Sanskrit  tongue  to 
appear,  receive  its  great  development,  live  its  whole  life  as 
a  spoken  language,  and  finally  disappear  from  common  use. 
3.  The  period  of  Sakhya-Muni's  Buddhism,  which  lasted 
about  twelve  centuries,  counting  from  the  time  of  the  sec- 
ond convocation  in  the  year  453  B.C.  4.  The  period  of 
modern  Brahmanism,  which  was  beginning  to  take  form 
and  assume  importance  in  the  seventh  century  of  the  Chris- 
tian Era,  more  than  eleven  hundred  years  ago. 

The  kingdom  of  Magadha  was  much  older  than  the  time 
of  Sakhya-Muni,  who  is  supposed  to  have  been  born  more 
than  600  years  before  Christ.  It  grew  up  out  of  the  Ary- 
an occupation  of  the  Lower  Ganges,  and  may  have  been 
as  old  as  any  attempt  to  reconstruct  its  chronology  has 
claimed ;  but  we  have  no  authentic  chronology,  nor  even 
an  authentic  list  of  the  kings  from  the  beginning.  The 
Brahmans,  who  preserved  the  old  Sanskrit  and  Vedic  books, 
have  dealt  most  villanously  with  the  historical  and  chro- 
nological records  of  the  country.  Mr.  Tumour,  in  his  In- 
troduction to  the  Mahawanso,  speaking  of  the  great  inge- 
nuity that  has  been  displayed  in  attempts  to  unravel  and 
explain  the  absurdities  of  Hindu  chronology,  says :  "They 
all  tend  to  show  that  the  incongruities  are  the  result  of 


Indian  History  falsified.  263 

systematic  perversions,  had  recourse  to,  since  the  time  of 
Megasthenes,  by  the  Hindus,  to  work  out  their  religious 
impostures,  and  that  they  in  no  degree  originate  in  barbar- 
ous ignorance,  or  in  the  imperfect  light  that  has  glimmered 
on  a  remote  antiquity."  And  yet  these  unpardonable  falsi- 
fiers have  not  been  able  to  hide  the  fact  that  Buddhism, 
including  all  its  various  schools,  has  had  a  far  more  pow- 
erful and  permanent  influence  in  India  than  Brahmanism, 
nor  to  conceal  the  comparatively  modern  origin  of  their 
own  composite  system. 

THE    ANCIENT   MALAYAN   EMPIRE. 

El-Mas'udi,  in  his  work  on  history  and  geography,  en- 
titled "  Meadows  of  Gold  and  Mines  of  Gems,"  says  :  "  In- 
dia is  a  vast  country,  having  many  seas  and  mountains, 
and  borders  upon  the  empire  of  ez-Zanij,  which  is  the  king- 
dom of  the  Maharaj,  the  king  of  the  islands,  whose  domin- 
ions form  the  frontier  between  India  and  China,  and  are 
considered  as  part  of  India."  He  represents  that  "  the 
splendor  and  high  civilization"  of  this  island  empire,  called 
ez-Zanij,  were  greatly  celebrated.  Farther  on  he  adds: 
"  The  Maharaj  is  lord  of  the  sixth  sea,"  and  "  king  of  the 
islands  from  which  drugs  and  spices  are  exported ;"  and 
says,  "  the  population  and  the  number  of  the  troops  of  his 
kingdom  cannot  be  counted;  and  the  islands  under  his 
sceptre  are  so  numerous  that  the  fastest  sailing  vessel  is 
not  able  to  go  round  them  in  two  years."  [See  Aloys 
Sprenger's  translation,  p.  176,187,  355-6,  and  397.]  The 
people  of  this  great  island  empire,  he  tells  us,  were  black. 

Five  hundred  and  fifty  years  after  the  time  when  El- 
Mas'udi  wrote,  the  Portuguese  made  their  first  appearance 
in  the  Indian  Seas,  having  sailed  around  the  Cape  of  Good 


264  .      Pre-Historic  Nations. 

Hope.  At  that  time  this  celebrated  empire  was  still  in  ex- 
istence, much  weakened,  and  in  a  state  of  decline.  It  in- 
cluded, with  the  peninsula  of  Malacca,  the  great  islands  of 
Sumatra,  Borneo,  Java,  and  Celebes,  and  all  the  other  isl- 
ands between  Australia  and  the  China  Sea.  Renaudot 
gives  the  reports  of  two  Mussulman  travelers  who  visited 
that  part  of  the  East  in  the  ninth  century,  previous  to  the 
time  of  El-Mas'udi.  At  that  time  it  included  Arracan, 
Chittagong,  the  Gangetic  provinces,  and  considerable  terri- 
tory on  the  Coromandel  coast.  They  called  it  the  empire 
of  Zapage,  or  Zabaja,  probably  a  corruption  of  the  name  of 
the  island  of  Java,  or  Jaba,  which  is  also  an  old  name  for 
the  island  of  Sumatra,  called  Ja-ba-din  by  Ptolemy  and 
Marco  Polo.  These  travelers  gave  an  account  of  wars  be- 
tween the  Maha-Raja  of  Zabaja  and  the  king  of  Al-Comr, 
or  Comorin,  and  other  kings  in  Southern  India.  Zaba,  on 
the  peninsula  of  Malacca,  was  a  famous  emporium  in  the 
time  of  Ptolemy;  and  Zabaja,  as  a  great  maritime  power, 
was  probably  much  older  than  the  Christian  Era. 

This  was  an  empire  of  the  people  whom  we  know  as  the 
Malays,  who,  like  the  modern  inhabitants  of  Yemen,  Mauri- 
tania, and  Asia  Minor,  no  longer  represent  the  civilization 
that  made  their  nation  great  in  ancient  times.  It  may 
reasonably  be  presumed  that  in  the  Malays  we  see  the  race 
found  in  India  by  the  Arabian  Cushites.  Mr.  Marsden,  who 
has  given  some  attention  to  their  literature  and  language, 
is  inclined  to  connect  them  ethnically  with  the  people  of 
Chinese  Tartary.  Their  color  and  other  physiological  pe- 
culiarities forbid  this  classification,  and  probably  their  lan- 
guage will  do  so  strongly  whenever  it  shall  be  thorough- 
ly understood  and  intelligently  described.  It  has  been 
ascertained  that  dialects  of  the  Malayan  tongue  are  used 


The  Malays  and  America.  265 

by  the  people  inhabiting  nearly  all  the  islands  from  New 
Zealand  to  the  Sandwich  Islands,  from  Madagascar  to  Fon 

*  O 

mosa,  and  from  the  Indian  Archipelago  to  Easter  Island, 
on  the  American  side  of  the  Pacific  Ocean ;  and  that  they 
all  have  certain  rites  and  customs,  which,  like  their  related 
dialects,  indicate  a  common  origin. 

These  points  are  discussed  in  a  volume  published  at  Lon- 
don in  1834,  which  was  written  by  Rev.  Dr.  Lang,  and  en- 
titled "  The  Origin  and  Migrations  of  the  Polynesian  Na- 
tion, Demonstrating  their  Ancient  Discovery  and  Progress- 
ive Settlement  of  the  Continent  of  America."  Humboldt 
and  others  have  stated  their  belief  that  America  was  visit- 
ed in  pre-historic  times  by  people  from  the  Asiatic  world, 
who  went  there  across  the  Pacific  Ocean ;  the  Chinese  and 
Japanese  have  recorded  traditions  that  say  this;  and  the 
Abbe  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg  points  out  that  the  ancient 
Peruvians  had  traditions  of  the  arrival  in  their  country  of 
foreigners,  who  came  by  sea,  and  landed  on  the  western 
coast. 

The  ancient  Malayan  civilization,  like  that  of  India  and 
so  many  other  ancient  peoples,  came  originally,  we  may 
suppose,  from  the  old  Arabians.  Java  and  the  other  large 
islands  have  antiquities,  including  ruins  and  inscriptions, 
that  have  not  been  explored  and  studied.  The  Malays 
read  and  write,  and  have  many  of  the  arts  of  civilized  life. 
They  use  the  Arabic  characters,  it  is  said ;  but  formerly,  it 
appears,  they  used  another  alphabet.  Lieut.  Col.  Sykes 
stated,  in  the  Journal  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  that 
"  there  are  ancient  inscriptions  in  Java"  written  in  a  char- 
acter like  that  of"  the  old  inscriptions  in  the  Dekhan."  If 
the  antiquities  of  that  old  empire  of  Zabaja  (which  Dr. 
Lang,  in  the  ardor  of  his  enthusiasm,  believed  to  be  as  old 

, 


266  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

as  the  Empire  of  China)  could  be  intelligently  and  faith- 
fully explored,  something  important  might  be  added  to 
our  knowledge  of  the  East — something  that  might  give  us 
a  better  notion  of  the  character  and  importance  of  the 
Malayan  people  in  ancient  times,  and  aid  our  endeavor  to 
make  clear  some  of  the  difficult  problems  of  Indian  history. 


VII. 

EGYPT  PREVIOUS  TO  MENES. 

ANCIENT  Egypt  is  now  a  fact  that  cannot  be  discredit- 
ed, but  a  fact,  nevertheless,  which  the  current  chronologies 
cannot  accept.  It  has  always  been  visible,  though  scarcely 
ever  fully  recognised  by  those  who  have  written  history. 
Greek  scholars  who  visited  Egypt  toward  the  close  of  the 
New  Monarchy,  studied  in  its  schools,  explored  its  libra- 
ries, observed  its  monuments,  and  had  access  to  abundant 
materials  for  writing  its  history,  were  not  incited  to  write 
on  that  country,  even  as  imperfectly  as  some  of  them  wrote 
about  Persia.  They  were  more  disposed  to  appropriate 
Egyptian  science  and  philosophy  without  due  acknowl- 
edgment ;  and  we  find  many  Greeks  censuring  Herodotus 
scornfully  because  he  admitted  that  Greek  thought  and 
culture  came  largely  from  the  Egyptians  and  Phrenicians. 

Hellenic  egotism  and  exclusiveness  could  not  allow  the 
scholars  of  Greece  proper  to  write  candid  histories  of"  out- 
side barbarians,"  and  show,  by  clear  and  formal  recogni- 
tion, that  the  civilization  of  any  "  barbarian"  nation,  or  of 
any  older  time,  was  or  could  be  superior  to  that  of  Hellas  ; 
and  their  spirit  has  been  allowed  too  great  influence  on  the 
scholarship  of  modern  times.  Greek  scholars  had  before 
them  records  and  monuments  of  the  Old  Monarchy  of 
Egypt.  Had  they  investigated  carefully,  and  recorded 
the  result  of  their  investigations  in  candidly-written  his- 
tories of  the  country,  our  notions  of  the  great  past  would 


268  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

be  regulated  by  a  scheme  of  chronology  more  in  accord- 
ance with  truth  than  that  of  Usher  or  of  any  other  rabbin- 
ical speculator,  and  it  would  be  much  easier  to  accept  the 
facts  concerning  Egypt  which  modern  discoveries  have 
made  undeniable. 

MANETHO'S   HISTORY   OP   EGYPT. 

So  far  as  we  know,  the  only  history  of  Egypt  ever  writ- 
ten in  Greek  was  that  of  Manetho  of  Sebennytus,  an  Egyp- 
tian priest  of  the  highest  reputation  for  learning  and  wis- 
dom, who  wrote  about  300  years  before  the  Christian  Era, 
His  aim  was  to  give,  in  the  Greek  language,  a  full  account 
of  the  religious  and  philosophical  wisdom  of  his  country, 
with  a  complete  record  of  its  history  and  chronology,  bas- 
ing his  work  on  the  ancient  annals  and  sacred  books  of 
Egypt.  The  history  was  arranged  in  three  parts.  In  the 
first  part  he  gave  what  was  known  of  the  history  of  Egypt 
previous  to  the  time  of  Menes,  with  the  first  eleven  dynas- 
ties of  the  Old  onarchy,  which  Menes  established.  The 
second  part  closed  with  the  nineteenth  dynasty,  and  the 
third  continued  the  history  down  to  the  overthrow  of 
Nectanebus  II.,  the  last  native  sovereign,  by  the  Persians. 
According  to  Manetho,  as  usually  understood,  the  time 
from  the  first  year  of  Menes  to  this  conquest  of  Egypt  by 
the  Persians  was  3555  years.  During  this  time  there  were 
thirty  successive  dynasties,  and  the  account  of  them  sug- 
gests a  division  of  Egyptian  history  into  three  great  peri- 
ods— the  Old  Monarchy,  the  Middle  Monarchy,  or  period 
of  the  Hyksos,  and  the  New  Monarchy,  which  began  with 
the  eighteenth  dynasty,  and  terminated  with  the  reign  of 
Nectanebus  II.  Manetho  states  that  the  rule  of  the  Hyk- 
soe  lasted  511  years.  The  reign  of  Menes  began  in  tlie 


Manetho's  Egyptian  Dynasties.  260 

year  3893  B.C.,  reckoning  Julian  years,  or  3895,  reckoning 
Egyptian  years. 

This  important  work  of  Manetho  is  lost ;  but  fragments 
of  it  have  come  down  to  us  in  the  works  of  Julius  Africa- 
nus,  Eusebius,  Syncellus,  Josephus,  and  others.  Certain 
passages  in  Plutarch's  treatise  de  Iside  et  Osiri  are  sup- 
posed to  be  extracts  from  that  part  of  it  in  which  he  ex- 
plained the  Egyptian  doctrines' concerning  the  gods.  The 
most  valuable  portion  of  the  history  thus  preserved  is  the 
list  of  Egyptian  dynasties.  None  of  the  transcribers,  how- 
ever, have  preserved  it  entirely  free  from  error ;  but  in 
Julius  Africanus,  copied  by  Syncellus,  and  in  the  Armenian 
version  of  Eusebius,  we  have  copies  of  it  so  nearly  correct 
that  AVC  can  see  what  it  was.  Our  dogmatic  chronologists 
have  not  been  able  to  receive  this  list  with  cordiality ;  in 
fact,  they  have  treated  it  very  unworthily ;  but  its  cor- 
rectness has  been  revealed  more  and  more  clearly  at  every 
step  in  the  progress  of  modern  discovery  in  Egypt,  which, 
instead  of  reducing  the  time  given  for  the  duration  of 
Egypt  under  all  the  dynasties,  has  led  some  acute  investi- 
gators to  believe  it  should  be  considerably  increased  by 
additions  to  the  time  of  the  Old  Monarchy. 

Manetho's  eminent  character  and  great  reputation  made 
his  work  an  authority  in  his  own  time.  It  was  universally 
accepted  as  authentic.  It  does  not  appear  that  its  accu- 
racy was  questioned  for  600  years  after  it  was  written,  or 
until  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  century  of  the  Christian 
Era,  when  certain  Jewish  Rabbins  and  Christian  writers 
fell  into  an  obstinate  chronological  controversy,  the  Chris- 
tians aiming  to  establish  certain  millennial  theories,  and 
the  Jews  to  oppose  them.  Manetho's  chronology  found 
its  way  into  this  controversy,  but  neither  Jew  nor  Chris- 


270  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

tian  was  in  a  mood  to  accept  it  without  revision.  Both 
parties  sought  to  compel  his  dates  to  harmonize  with  the 
system  they  profanely  called  biblical ;  and  the  rabbinical 
dogmatist,  who  had  not  scrupled  to  falsify  the  genealogies 
and  alter  the  dates  of  his  own  sacred  Scriptures,  could  not 
be  expected  to  treat  Manetho  with  much  reverence.  Ma- 
netho's  earliest  chronological  date,  3893  B.C.,  could  not  be 
tolerated;  therefore  it  mast  be  denied;  and  they  pro- 
ceeded to  mutilate  and  falsify  his  list  of  the  dynasties. 
This  villanous  endeavor  of  falsehood,  which  was  as  false  to 
the  real  chronology  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  as  to  that  of 
Manetho's  history,  was  conducted  in  the  most  systematic 
and  elaborate  manner  possible  to  those  engaged  in  it. 
Manetho's  lists  and  numbers  were  altered,  abbreviated,  and 
transformed  in  the  most  unscrupulous  way,  so  as  to  com- 
press them  within  such  limits  as  suited  the  dogmatism  of 
rabbinical  theories. 

This  studied  operation  of  fraud  produced  two  spurious 
works — the  "Old  Chronicle"  and  the  " Sothis"— which 
have,  since,  more  than  once  deceived  and  misled  honest  in- 
vestigators. To  these  spurious  writings — which  almost 
entirely  omitted  the  Old  Monarchy  and  otherwise  falsified 
the  true  list — is  due  most  of  the  confusion  introduced  into 
the  inquiry  concerning  Egyptian  chronology  and  ancient 
history.  Their  real  character  is  now  more  generally  un- 
derstood; and  yet,  since  the  year  1860,  a  large  and  elabo- 
rate octavo  volume  has  appeared  in  England,  devoted  to  a 
discussion  of  Egyptian  chronology,  in  which  that  false 
"  Old  Chronicle"  is  used  as  the  highest  authority  on  this 
subject. 

But  it  does  not  belong  to  my  present  purpose  to  engage 
in  this  discussion,  or  to  give  a  history  of  modern  explora- 


Lepsius  on  Egyptian  Antiquity.  271 

tions  and  discoveries  in  Egypt.  My  inquiries  relate  to 
more  ancient  times.  For  all  that  belongs  to  the  history 
of  Egypt  since  the  time  of  Menes,  I  must  refer  my  read- 
ers to  the  works  of  eminent  Egyptologists  whose  names 
are  familiar  to  all,  and  especially  to  the  very  thorough 
and  complete  essay  of  Professor  Lepsius  on  "  The  Chronol- 
ogy of  the  Egyptians,"  and  to  the  publications  of  M.  Mari- 
ette  in  France.  Lepsius  shows  how  constantly  the  monu- 
ments confirm  the  history  of  Manetho ;  and  he  observes 
very  justly  that  "the  investigation  of  Egyptian  history 
will  gradually  exercise  an  extensive  influence  on  all  branch- 
es of  archaeology — on  our  whole  conception  of  the  past  his- 
tory of  man." 

ORIGIN  AND   ANTIQUITY   OF   EGYPT. 

Before  the  time  of  Menes,  Egypt  had  a  civilization  which 
must  have  seemed  old  to  those  acquainted  with  it.  This 
is  apparent  to  all  who  have  studied  the  antiquities  of  that 
country.  Sir  Gardner  Wilkinson  refers  to  "the  great 
mathematical  skill  of  the  Egyptians  in  the  time  of  Menes," 
evinced  by  the  change  he  made  in  the  course  of  the  Nile, 
and  says :  "  It  may  be  inferred,  from  their  great  advance- 
ment in  the  arts  and  sciences  at  this  early  period,  that 
many  ages  of  civilization  had  preceded  the  accession  of 
their  first  monarch."  Upper  and  Lower  Egypt  had  previ- 
ously existed  as  separate  countries,  each  being  governed 
by  its  own  princes.  Menes  was  a  prince  of  Upper  Egypt, 
the  oldest  of  these  separate  countries.  He  was  born  at  the 
city  of  This  or  Thinis,  which  appears  to  have  been  the  roy- 
al seat  of  a  Thinite  dynasty  of  the  upper  country.  That 
he  was  a  man  of  remarkable  force  of  mind  and  character 
may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  he  was  able  to  unite  the 


272  Pre-IIistoriG  Nations. 

"  Two  Countries"  under  one  government,  and  lay  the  foun- 
dations of  a  great  monarchy  whose  monuments  are  still 
studied  with  admiration  and  wonder. 

There  is  neither  history  nor  chronology  of  Egypt  previ- 
ous to  the  time  of  Mencs.  We  have  only  the  fact  that  civ- 
ilization, letters,  science,  political  organization,  and  kings 
existed  there  long  before  he  appeared,  with  such  knowl- 
edge of  the  early  history  of  the  "  Two  Countries"  as  may 
be  gleaned  from  legends,  traditions,  and  mythological  nar- 
ratives. Annals  of  those  early  ages  were  undoubtedly 
written  and  preserved  in  the  temples,  but  they  seem  to 
have  perished  long  before  the  time  of  Manctho.  When 
we  consider  that  a  civilization  like  that  of  Egypt  in  the 
time  of  Mcnes  is  not  the  work  of  a  year  or  of  a  century,  we 
see  distinctly  that  Egypt  had  a  long  existence  previous  to 
his  reign.  Most  of  the  great  monuments  of  civilization 
now  found  in  Egypt  belong  to  the  period  of  the  Old  Mon- 
archy, some  of  the  grandest  of  them  being  as  old  as  the 
time  of  its  earlier  dynasties. 

According  to  the  uniform  testimony  of  tradition,  civili- 
zation was  first  established  in  Egypt  by  colonies  of  Cush- 
ites,  or  Ethiopians.  The  old  civilization  throughout  the 
whole,  upper  valley  of  the  Nile  had  the  same  origin.  It 
came  originally  from  Arabia,  and  went  onward  into  Egypt, 
in  very  early  times,  before  the  Cushite  race  had  changed 
its  color  by  mixture  writh  the  dark  race  of  Africa.  Accord- 
ing to  Pliny,  King  Juba  II.  stated,  in  his  work  on  Africa, 
that  the  people  in  the  valley  of  the  Nile,  from  Syene  to 
Meroe,  were  Arabians.  Those  who  have  studied  ancient 
Egypt  carefully  generally  agree  in  the  opinion  that  the 
Egyptians  must  have  come  originally  from  some  country 
on  the  Asiatic  side  of  the  Red  Sea.  Sir  Gardner  Wilkin- 
son says  on  this  point : 


Origin  of  the  Egyptians.  273 

"  Every  one  who  considers  the  features,  the  language, 
and  other  peculiarities  of  the  ancient  Egyptians,  will  feel 
convinced  that  they  are  not  of  African  extraction,  but  that, 
like  the  Abyssinians  and  many  inhabitants  of  the  known 
valley  of  the  Nile,  they  bear  the  evident  stamp  of  an  Asi- 
atic origin."  And,  "  In  manners,  language,  and  many  oth- 
er respects,  Egypt  was  certainly  more  Asiatic  than  Afri- 
can; and  though  there  is  no  appearance  of  the  Hindu  and 
Egyptian  religions  having  been  borrowed  from  one  anoth- 
er, yet  it  is  not  improbable  that  those  two  nations  may 
have  proceeded  from  the  same  original  stock,  and*  have 
migrated  southwards  from  their  parent  country  in  Central 
Asia." 

How  many  difficult  problems,  or  problems  that  seem  dif- 
ficult to  many  learned  investigators,  become  clear  imme- 
diately when  we  recognise  the  pre-historic  greatness  of  an- 
cient Arabia !  Sir  Gardner  Wilkinson  goes  to  Central  Asia 
to  find  the  origin  of  the  ancient  Egyptians,  and  endeavors 
to  connect  them  with  the  Aryan  race,  which  linguistic  sci- 
ence forbids.  Professor  Rawlinson  and  others  go  over  into 
Africa,  and  down  the  Nile  to  Meroe,  to  find  the  original 
colonizers  and  civilizers  of  Chaldea,  which  is  preposterous. 
These  gropings  in  the  dark  will  be  discontinued  when. such 
inquirers  have  learned  to  comprehend  Arabia,  the  ancient 
mother  of  nations.  Sir  Henry  Rawlinson  sees  the  common 
origin  of  the  Chaldeans  and  Egyptians,  and  finds  it  even  in 
the  character  of  their  writing,  which,  he  thinks,  must  have 
been  in  existence  before  the  two  peoples  separated;  but 
he  does  not  see  Arabia,  although  he  understands  very  well 
the  impossibility  of  connecting  the  origin  of  either  the 
Chaldeans  or  Egyptians  with  any  people  of  the  Aryan  race. 
Lepsius  draws  the  same  conclusions  from  the  resemblance 

M2 


274  Pre-IIistoric  Nations. 

of  Egyptian  and  other  Cushite  writing,  and  thinks  the 
Egyptians  may  have  brought  the  first  elements  of  theirs 
"  from  their  original  home  in  Asia." 

The  ancient  Arabians,  being  what  they  were,  could  not 
fail  to  occupy  the  Nile  valley,  and  place  colonies  in  Upper 
Egypt.  It  is  very  easy  to  see  the  course  taken  by  their 
colonizing  and  civilizing  forces.  They  crossed  the  Straits 
of  Bab  -  el  -  Mandeb,  and  created  a  second  Land  of  Cush. 
They  occupied  the  Upper  Nile  valley,  creating  the  civil- 
ized country  long  known  as  Barbara,  and  afterwards  famed 
as  MeToe.  At  length  they  went  on  to  the  lower  valley  of 
the  Nile,  and  planted  colonies  in  Upper  Egypt.  Sir  Gard- 
ner Wilkinson  says:  "That  civilization  advanced  north- 
wards from  the  Thebaid  to  Lower  Egypt  is  highly  prob- 
able." The  hieroglyphic  legends  which  give  precedence 
to  Upper  Egypt,  and  show  that  its  early  cities  were  the 
oldest  in  the  country,  place  this  beyond  doubt.  Civiliza- 
tion certainly  came  from  the  south. 

Memphis,  in  Lower  Egypt,  founded  by  Menes,  has  around 
its  ruins  the  great  pyramids,  and  many  other  wonderful 
remains  of  the  Old  Monarchy,  which  astonish  beholders ; 
but  This,  or  Thinis,  in  Upper  Egypt,  was  a  royal  city,  where 
kings  reigned  long  before  the  time  of  Menes.  The  Egyp- 
tian name  of  Memphis  was  Misr.  When  another  royal 
town  rose  on  the  east  side  of  the  river,  this  new  city  was 
also  called  Misr,  and  it  still  retains  this  name  among  the 
people,  for  Alkahira,  the  Conqueress,  vulgarly  called  Cairo, 
is  merely  an  epithet  of  the  Mahometan  Arabs.  Hosea  calls 
the  city  Moph ;  the  Chaldean  paraphrase  calls  it  Maphes  ; 
Rabbi  Kimchi  says  Moph  and  Noph  were  the  same  town. 
The  Septuagint  calls  it  Memphis,  which  the  Copts  and 
Arabs  pronounce  Menuf  or  Menf.  Misr  was  the  ancient 


Egypt  once  a  Bay  of  the  Sea.  275 

name  of  Egypt ;  and  Misraim,  the  plural  or  dual,  means 
literally  the  Two  Misrs,  Egypt  being  described  on  its  mon- 
uments as  the  "  Two  Countries." 

It  is  stated  that,  when  civilized  communities  were  first 
established  in  Egypt,  the  lower  part  of  the  country  was 
entirely  sea  and  marsh.  Herodotus,  who  investigated  this 
point  and  discussed  it  at  length,  believed  that  Egypt  was 
formerly  a  bay  or  arm  of  the  sea.  In  his  second  book,  he 
speaks  thus  of  its  physical  condition  in  the  time  of  Menes : 
"  They  say  that  in  the  time  of  Menes  all  Egypt,  except  the 
district  of  Thebes,  was  a  morass,  and  that  no  part  of  the 
land  now  existing  below  Lake  Myris  was  then  above  wa- 
ter. To  this  place  from  the  sea  is  a  seven  days'  passage 
up  the  river."  So  it  was  written  substantially  in  the  an- 
nals of  Egypt,  and  so  it  was  stated  by  the  voice  of  tradi- 
tion. Menes  drained  a  part  of  Lower  Egypt  by  changing 
the  channel  of  the  river.  Diodorus  Siculus,  rehearsing,  in 
his  third  book,  what  he  had  learned  from  Ethiopian  sources, 
makes  this  statement :  "  The  Ethiopians  say  that  the  Egyp- 
tians are  a  colony  drawn  out  of  them  by  Osiris ;  and  that 
Egypt  was  formerly  no  part  of  the  continent,  but  a  sea  at 
the  beginning  of  the  world,  but  that  afterwards  it  was 
made  land  by  the  River  Nile." 

Rennell,  in  his  work  on  the  Geographical  System  of  He- 
rodotus, observes  that "  the  configuration  and  composition 
of  the  low  lands  leave  no  room  for  doubt  that  the  sea  once 
washed  the  base  of  the  rocks  on  which  the  pyramids  of 
Memphis  stand,  the  present  base  of  which  is  washed  by  the 
inundation  of  the  Nile  at  an  elevation  of  seventy  or  eighty 
feet  above  the  Mediterranean  ;  but  when  we  attempt  to 
carry  back  our  ideas  to  the  remote  period  when  the  foun- 
dation of  the  delta  was  first  laid,  we  are  lost  in  the  con- 


276  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

templation  of  so  vast  a  period  of  time."  That  Egypt  is 
geologically  a  "  gift  of  the  Nile"  cannot  reasonably  be 
doubted,  and  yet,  old  as  it  is,  Sir  Charles  Lyell  points  out 
conclusively  that  it  is  much  more  modern  than  the  "  stone 
age"  of  Europe,  as  revealed  by  deposits  found  in  the  ancient 
gravel  of  the  valley  of  the  Sommc. 

Diodorus  Siculus  adds  to  his  statement  that  the  laws, 
customs,  religious  observances,  and  letters  of  the  ancient 
Egyptians  closely  resembled  those  of  the  Ethiopians, "  the 
colony  still  observing  the  customs  of  their  ancestors." 
Egypt,  for  several  millenniums  previous  to  his  time,  had 
been  a  "  colony"  of  which  the  Ethiopians  or  any  other  peo- 
ple might  feel  proud  without  being  unreasonable.  It  is 
true,  however,  that  the  origin  and  close  relationship  of  the 
various  communities  established  by  the  old  Cushitcs  were 
everywhere  shown  by  the  similarity  of  their  mythologies, 
religious  ceremonies,  and  social  usages.  These,  quite  as 
surely  as  comparative  philology,  or  records  found  written 
on  old  ruins,  still  reveal  to  us  the  ancient  connection  of  the 
Cushite  race  with  Egypt,  India,  and  Asia  Minor,  and  with 
many  other  countries  at  the  East  and  around  the  Medi- 
terranean. The  very  great  resemblance  between  the  old 
Egyptians  and  the  Cushites,  extending  to  their  languages, 
which  belonged  to  the  same  family,  makes  it  undeniable 
that  one  of  these  two  peoples  owed  its  civilization  to  the 
other.  But  we  see  clearly,  in  all  the  records  and  traditions 
of  antiquity,  that  the  civilization  of  Cusha-dwipa,  the  Land 
of  Cush,  was  much  older  than  that  of  Egypt — much  older 
than  any  other  of  which  there  is  the  slightest  trace  in  the 
mythologies,  traditions,  records,  or  old  ruins  of  antiquity, 
of  which  we  have  any  knowledge. 

The  Aryan  civilization  may  have  been  nearly  as  old,  but 


The  Puranas  on  Egypt.  277 

in  early  times  it  was  not  greatly  developed ;  and  it  was 
not  so  widely  prevalent,  nor  so  powerfully  controlling  in 
the  ancient  world.  Certainly  it  had  nothing  to  do  with 
the  formation  and  development  of  Egypt ;  that  was  en- 
tirely a  work  of  the  Cushites,  or  Ethiopians.  This  is  why 
the  annals  of  the  Egyptian  priests  were  so  full  of  the  Ethi- 
opians, wrho  not  only  played  a  foremost  and  wonderful  part 
in  the  affairs  of  the  world,  but  who  had  been  playing  that 
part  long  before  Egypt  became  the  abode  of  a  civilized 
community. 

THE    OLD   SANSKRIT  BOOKS    ON   EGYPT. 

Many  references  to  the  pro-historic  ages  of  Egypt  are 
found  in  the  old  Sanskrit  books,  which  contain  remarkably 
accurate  notices  not  only  of  Africa,  but  also  of  Western 
Europe.  What  the  ancient  Aryans  knew  of  distant  re- 
gions came  to  them  probal^  through  the  more  enterpris- 
ing Cushites,  who  preceded  them  in  India,  and  with  whom 
they  must  have  maintained  a  constant  intercourse.  That 
the  account  of  Egypt,  given  by  their  Puranas  and  other 
legendary  narratives,  is  based  on  actual  knowledge  of  a 
very  early  condition  of  the  country,  is  evident,  for  it  is  ac* 
companied  by  accurate  descriptions  of  the  Nile,  of  the  re- 
gions through  which  it  flows,  and  of  adjacent  regions  in 
Africa;  and  it  is  just  as  clear  that  these  mythical  and  le- 
gendary narratives  of  the  ancient  Aryans  of  India  have  a 
historical  basis.  They  may  have  been  shaped,  more  or 
less,  by  the  influence  of  that  enchantment  which  distance 
in  time  and  place  usually  works  in  the  imagination  of  such 
a  people.  So  it  was  with  similar-  mythical  stories  of  the 
Greeks,  and  so  it  has  been  everywhere,  from  the  beginning 
of  time,  in  all  communities  placed  in  like  circumstances. 


278  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

The  facts  communicated  must  flow  in  the  same  stream  of 
narration  with  the  feelings,  fancies,  and  prejudices  of  the 
narrators ;  but  the  facts  are  not  on  this  account  less  real, 
and  frequently  they  stand  out  with  all  the  clearness  of  un- 
obscured  reality. 

Some  account  of  what  is  told  by  the  Sanskrit  Puranas, 
or  mythical  stories,  can  be  found  in  the  very  elaborate  pa- 
pers of  Major  Francis  Wilford,  published  in  several  of  the 
early  volumes  of  "Asiatic  Researches."  They  establish 
the  fact  that  in  very  remote  times  there  was  a  great  com- 
munication between  India  and  Arabia,  and  the  countries 
on  the  Nile,  and  most  of  them  relate  to  events  that  occur- 
red in  the  ages  when  the  countries  of  Hindustan  were  still 
subject  to  the  sway  of  the  Cushites,  who  seem  to  have  be- 
gun their  occupation  of  India  before  they  went  to  Egypt. 
Here  is  the  old  Sanskrit  description  of  the  Nile  :* 

"  That  celebrated  and  holy  ^jyer  [the  Nile]  takes  its  rise 
from  the  Lake  of  the  Gods,  thence  named  Amara  or  Deva 
Sarovera,  the  region  of  Sharma  or  Sharma-st'han,  between 
the  Mountains  of  Ajagara  and  Sitanta,  which  seem  part  of 
Suma-giri,  or  the  Mountains  of  the  Moon,  the  country  round 
the  lake  being  called  Chandri-st'han  or  Moonland :  thence 
the  Cali  [Nile]  flows  into  the  marshes  of  Padma-van,  and 
through  the  Nishadha  Mountains  into  the  land  of  Barbara 
[Nubia,  still  known  to  the  natives  as  Barbara],  whence  it 

*  Some  of  Wilford's  papers,  published  in  volumes  of  the  "Asiatic  Re- 
searches" previous  to  the  8th,  cannot  be  fully  trusted,  he  tells  us,  because 
lie  was  deceived  by  his  pundit.  But  this  cannot  apply  to  their  account  of 
the  Nile,  for  knowledge  of  the  source  and  character  of  this  river  was  prev- 
alent in  India  and  Arabia  in  very  early  times.  Moreover,  Ptolemy,  who 
studied  the  Phoenician  and  Arabian  geographers  carefully,  stated  that  the 
Nile  rose  in  certain  Mountains  of  the  Moon,/ro/;i  two  Likes  lying  east  and 
west  of  each  other,  near  the  equator. 


Country  of  the  Moon.  279 

passes  through  the  Mountains  of  Hemacuta  into  Sancha- 
dwipa  proper  [i.  e.  Upper  Egypt  proper] ;  there,  entering 
the  forests  of  Tapas  [or  Thebais],  it  runs  into  Cantaca-desa, 
or  Misra-st'han,  and  through  the  woods  named  Arauga  and 
Atavi,  into  the  Sanc'habdhi." 

In  this  description  we  see  an  actual  knowledge  of  the 
source  of  the  Nile,  of  the  lake  region  of  Africa,  and  of  the 
country  near  the  Mountains  of  the  Moon — knowledge 
which  we  have  lacked  until  within  a  few  years ;  and  we 
still  know  much  less  of  those  regions  than  was  known  in 
India  when  these  Puranas  were  originally  written,  especial- 
ly of  the  Mountains  of  the  Moon,  whose  very  name  comes 
to  us  from  Arabia  and  India.  We  have  learned  recently 
from  explorers  that  the  main  source  of  the  Nile  is  a  lake 
which  they  call  Victoria  Nyanza,  and  that  it  certainly  has 
connection  with  another  lake,  now  called  Albert  Nyanza. 
They  tell  us,  also,  that  the  country  around  the  lakes,  at 
and  near  the  sources  of  the  Nile,  is  now  called  U-nyamuezi 
or  Moonland;  and  Speke  says:  "U-nyamuezi — Country 
of  the  Moon — must  have  been  one  of  the  largest  kingdoms 
of  Africa."  The  Mountains  of  the  Moon,  whose  name  is  as 
old,  probably,  as  the  first  Cushite  occupation  of  that  coun- 
try, have  not  yet  been  explored.  Traditions  of  that  Cush- 
ite invasion  and  occupation,  as  well  as  other  traces  of  it, 
remain  there  to  this  day. 

The  country  which  the  Puranas  designate  as  Barbara 
was  situated  between  Upper  Egypt  and  Abyssinia,  or,  ac- 
cording to  Wilford,  it  included  "  all  the  country  between 
Syene  and  the  confluence  of  the  Nile  with  the  Tacazze, 
which  is  generally  called  Barbara  and  Barba  at  the  pres- 
ent time."  In  this  name,  perhaps,  we  see  the  origin  of  that 
term  Barbary,  which  has  been  applied  to  Northern  Africa, 


280  Pre-IIistoric  Nations. 

and  also  of  the  term  Berbers,  used  to  designate  numerous 
tribes  that  occupy  the  interior  of  Northern  Africa. 

According  to  the  Sanskrit  books,  the  first  settlers  in 
Egypt  were  the  Sharmicas,  who  went  from  Cusha-dwipa. 
It  is  said, "  they  found  the  country  peopled  by  evil  beings, 
and  by  a  few  impure  tribes  of  men  who  had  no  fixed  habi- 
tation." They  were  followed  by  other  tribes  and  emi- 
grants, from  various  parts  of  Cusha-dwipa  within,  among 
whom  the  most  numerous  and  important  were  the  Pallis, 
who  are  shown  to  have  been  Cushites,  and  who,  as  Wilford 
points  out,  were  of  the  same  race  as  the  Phoenicians.  The 
term  Sancha-dwipa,  which  became  a  designation  for  the 
whole  eastern  part  of  the  continent,  was  originally  applied 
to  Upper  Egypt.  There  are  legends  referring  to  other  em- 
igrants who  are  said  to  have  gone  to  that  region  from 
Cusha-dwipa  and  from  India,  in  which  we  see,  woven  into 
beautiful  fictions,  traditional  reports  of  occurrences  there 
after  the  first  settlements  became  established  communities. 

Of  course,  they  give  us  neither  history  nor  chronology ; 
and  there  is  usually  nothing  to  indicate  clearly  either  the 
distance  or  the  relation,  in  time,  between  the  events  used 
for  narration  in  one  legend  and  those  used  in  another.  The 
Puranas  describe  the  reign  of  "  King  It"  (or  "  Ait,"  as  he  is 
often  called),  whose  rule  seems  to  have  marked  a  great 
epoch  in  the  history  of  Upper  Egypt.  He  belonged  to  a 
very  remote  period.  In  the  Greek  traditions  he  is  called 
><Etus.  The  Puranas  say  he  came  forth  from  the  waters 
of  the  Cali,  or  Nile,  and  they  speak  of  him  as  a  subordinate 
incarnation  of  the  god  Mrira.  He  put  an  end  to  a  pei-iod 
of  frightful  war  and  devastation,  overwhelmed  the  Daityas 
or  evil  beings,  protected  the  Devatas  or  good  people,  re- 
stored order,  and  ruled  those  countries  with  honor  and 


The  Puranas  on  Cusldte  Kings.  281 

glory.  Stephanus  of  Byzantium  says  he  came  from  India, 
which  the  Puranas  do  not  claim.  He  may  have  been  a  Cush- 
ite  or  Arabian  prince  who  had  been  employed  in  India,  then 
largely  occupied  by  the  Cushites,  and  who  was  afterwards 
sent  to  the  countries  on  the  Nile  to  suppress  disorder  and 
rebellion,  or  to  defend  the  settlements  against  invasion  from 
the  interior.  He  may  have  remained  there  a  long  time  as 
governor  of  those  countries. 

The  Puranas  mention  several  kings  of  Arabia,  or  "  the 
interior  Cusha-dwipa,"  with  whom  the  countries  on  the 
Nile  had  a  very  intimate  connection,  and  to  whom  they 
were  subject  or  tributary.  One  of  these  Cushite  kings 
was  Divodasa,  pronounced  Diodas  in  the  popular  dialects. 
It  is  said  that  lie  reigned  over  the  "  western  districts"  of 
Cusha-dwipa  within,  which  extended  from  the  shores  of  the 
Mediterranean  to  the  banks  of  the  Indus  and  the  shores  of 
the  Indian  Ocean.  "Wilford  remarks  that  "he  seems  to 
have  been  the  Hercules-Diodas  mentioned  by  Eusebius,  who 
flourished  in  Phoenicia."  The  story  of  another  king  of 
Cusha-dwipa  is  told  with  variations,  and  with  more  than 
the  usual  activity  of  imagination,  indicating  that  at  some 
remote  period  in  the  past  he  had  a  wide-spread  fame,  and 
was  a  favorite  theme  of  popular  eulogy.  One  -version  of 
his  story  is  substantially  as  follows : 

On  the  Mountains  of  Jwalamuc'ha,  in  the  interior  Cusha- 
dwipa,  reigned  a  virtuous  and  religious  prince,  named 
Charvanayanas,  whose  son,  Capeyanas,  had  a  controlling 
passion  for  arms  and  hunting.  At  length  Capeyanas,  be- 
ing more  devoted  to  his  favorite  pursuits  than  to  religious 
observances,  was  exiled  by  his  father,  went  to  a  prince 
whose  territory  was  in  the  western  part  of  Arabia,  and 
married  his  daughter.  He  distinguished  himself  as  a  he- 


282  Pre:Historic  Nations. 

roic  warrior,  rose  from  the  position  of  a  subordinate  prince, 
became  the  supreme  ruler  of  Cusha-dwipa,  governed  justly, 
subdued  rebellious  tributary  princes  east  and  west,  made 
great  conquests,  and  ruled  his  vast  kingdom  in  glory.  He 
had  a  daughter  named  Antarmada,  and  a  son  Bhateyanas, 
who  succeeded  him  on  the  throne  and  conquered  the  King 
of  Meru.  Bhateyanas  and  his  sister  finally  became  devo- 
tees, and  retired  to  the  forest  of  Tapas,  in  Upper  Egypt. 
Here  Antarmada  was  sorely  persecuted  by  Mayadeva,  Avho 
at  length  chained  her  to  a  rock  on  the  sea-shore,  from 
which  she  was  delivered  by  a  young  hero  named  Parasica, 
whom  she  married.  After  death  they  were  seated  among 
the  stars,  with  Capeyanas  and  his  wife  CasyapL 

Wilford,  having  detected  his  pundit  in  deceptions  and 
fraudulent  copyings  from  the  manuscripts,  was  for  a  time 
in  doubt  concerning  the  authenticity  of  this  Sanskrit  ver- 
sion of  the  story  of  Kepheus,  Cassiopeia,  Perseus,  and  An- 
dromeda. But,  on  careful  investigation,  the  doubt  was  re- 
moved, and  different  versions  of  the  story  were  found  in 
the  Yantra-raja  and  other  books, "  with  a  most  ample  ac- 
count of  the  thirty-six  Deccani  so  famous  in  Egyptian  as- 
tronomy, and  called  Drescan  in  Sanskrit."  In  the  Yantra- 
raja,  Perseus  is  called  Pretasira  ;  Andromeda,  Vejara  ; 
Cassiopeia,  Lebana  ;  and  Kepheus,  Nripa  or  Nrirupa.  In 
other  Sanskrit  books  Kepheus  is  mentioned  as  a  great  king, 
and  described  "  as  the  father  of  the  Kephenes.  Kapesa  is 
Kepheus,  and  Kapisa  is  the  patronymic  of  their  descend- 
ants." 

In  the  Greek  legends  Kepheus  is  celebrated  as  King  of 
Ethiopia,  which  in  the  Sanskrit  books  is  called  Cuslia- 
dwipa ;  and  Perseus  was  a  prince  of  Argos,  who  rescued 
and  married  his  daughter  Andromeda.  Here  we  see  again, 


Greek  and  Sanskrit  Mythology.  283 

what  is  so  evident  elsewhere,  that  the  Land  of  Cush  furnish- 
ed both  the  Greeks  and  the  ancient  Aryans  of  India  with 
materials  for  their  mythological  narratives,  and  therefore 
had  a  civilization  much  more  ancient  than  any  other  known 
to  them.  And  a  large  part  of  these  materials  was  furnish- 
ed by  personages  and  events  belonging  to  that  period  in 
the  history  of  Cusha-dwipa  when  Egypt  was  a  colonial  de- 
pendency or  tributary  province  of  that  country.  -  It  re- 
minds one,  as  has  been  observed,  of  Lord  Bacon's  remark, 
that  "the  mythology  of  the  Greeks,  which  their  oldest 
writers  do  not  pretend  to  have  invented,  was  no  more  than 
a  light  air,  which  had  passed  from  a  more  ancient  people 
into  the  flutes  of  the  Grecians"  [and  of  the  old  Aryans  and 
other  peoples  also], "  which  they  modulated  to  such  des- 
cants as  best  suited  their  fancies."  All  such  narratives  are 
"  founded  on  fact,"  and  reveal  an  ancient  history  that  gave 
them  birth,  else  they  could  not  exist. 

DIONYSOS,  CALLED    OSIRIS   AND   BACCHUS. 

The  narratives  relating  to  Dionysos — known  in  Egypt 
as  Osiris,  and  sometimes  called  the  Indian  Bacchus — refer 
to  a  period  more  ancient,  probably,  than  that  of  Kepheus. 
All  the  legends  of  Egypt,  India,  Asia  Minor,  and  the  older 
Greeks,  describe  him  as  a  king,  very,  great  during  his  life, 
and  deified  after  death.  The  history  of  Dionysos  seems  to 
have  been  a  favorite  topic  with  some  of  the  older  Ionian 
writers ;  and  it  was,  undoubtedly,  still  more  prominent  in 
the  lost  literature  of  Egypt,  Arabia,  Thrace,  and  Asia  Mi- 
nor. Diodorus  Siculus  mentions  one  old  work  on  this  sub- 
ject that  appears  to  have  come  down  from  the  ages  pre- 
ceding Ionia,  and  with  which  he  had  some  acquaintance. 
He  states  that  it  was  composed  by  Thymrctes  of  Asia  Mi- 


284:  Pre-H'istoric  Nations. 

nor,  describes  it  as  a  history  of  Dionysos  given  in  a  poem 
entitled  "  Phrygia,"  and  says  it  was  written  "  in  a  very  old 
language  and  character."  It  is  added  that  Thymsetes  took 
pains  to  secure  the  most  accurate  and  complete  information 
relative  to  Dionysos;  that  he  visited  Nysa,  in  Arabia, 
where  he  was  educated,  inquired  of  records  and  traditions, 
and  studied  the  subject  carefully.  The  chief  particulars 
in  his  account  of  Dionysos  are  as  follows: 

Amon,  king  of  Arabia  or  Ethiopia,  married  Rhea,  sister 
of  Cronos,  who  reigned  over  Italy,  Sicily,  and  certain  coun- 
tries of  Northern  Africa.  Nevertheless,  Amon  was  greatly 
in  love  with  the  beautiful  Amalthea,  and  Dionysos  was  the 
child  of  this  love.  Rhea,  in  a  violent  excitement  of  anger, 
separated  herself  from  Amon,  returned  to  Cronos,  and  be- 
came his  wife.  Dionysos  was  brought  up  at  Nysa,  a  city 
of  Arabia,  and  diligently  instructed  in  the  most  learned  arts 
and  sciences.  He  was  endowed  with  remarkable  genius, 
and  developed  wonderful  force  and  brilliancy  of  mind  and 
character.  The  relations  between  Cronos  and  Amon  were 
constantly  hostile,  and  at  length  the  former  became  suc- 
cessful in  a  war  against  the  latter,  defeated  his  armies,  and 
attempted  a  conquest  of  his  kingdom.  With  this  end  in 
view,  he  marched  against  Nysa;  but  now  Dionysos  took 
the  field,  defeated  the  army  of  Cronos  in  a  great  battle, 
drove  him  out  of  the  country,  pursued  him  to  his  own  cap- 
ital, dethroned  him,  and  enthroned  his  son  Zeus  in  his  place. 
It  is  added  that  Zeus  reigned  nobly  and  won  a  great  fame. 
The  great  career  of  Dionysos  followed  this  beginning.  He 
succeeded  his  father,  and  became  the  greatest  of  sovereigns. 
He  powerfully  extended  his  sway  in  all  the  neighboring 
countries,  and  completed  the  conquest  of  India,  where  he 
spent  several  years,  and  built  a  city  called  Nysa.  He  aft- 


Dionysos,  Cronos,  and  Zeus.  285 

erwards  seems  to  have  given  much  attention  to  the  Cush- 
ite  colonies  in  Egypt,  greatly  increasing  their  strength,  in- 
telligence, and  prosperity. 

In  classical  tradition,  Cronos  and  Saturn  are  treated  as 
the  same  personage ;  but  the  character  of  the  Roman  Sat- 
urn is  quite  different  from  that  of  the  Greek  Chronos.  In 
the  mythical  legends  of  Rome,  Saturn  was  celebrated  as  a 
very  ancient  king  of  Italy,  who  introduced  agricultural  in- 
dustry, social  order,  and  the  habits  of  civilized  life.  His 
reign  filled  the  land  with  plenty,  and  created  the  golden 
age  of  Italy.  He  was  suddenly  removed  to  the  divine 
abodes  and  became  a  god.  These  legends  were  ancient, 
in  Italy,  long  before  Rome  was  built.  The  Greek,  Egyp- 
tian, and  Ethiopian  legends  made  Dionysos  contemporary 
with  Saturn,  or  Cronos,  and  his  sons.  In  the  legends  of 
Egypt,  Osiris,  or  Dionysos,  was  a  glorious  king  of  that 
country,  who  came  to  a  violent  death  at  the  hands  of  his 
brother  Typhon,  and  whose  death  was  revenged  by  his 
wife  Isis  and  his  son  Orus.  He  was  King  of  Egypt  just  as 
the  sovereigns  of  Great  Britain  are  sovereigns  of  Canada ; 
Egypt  formed  a  part  of  his  empire.  But  the  Egyptians, 
in  their  mythology,  appropriated  him  entirely  to  them- 
selves, making  him  the  originator  of  civilization,  and  espe- 
cially of  the  arts  of  agriculture. 

Fresnel,  in  the  Journal  Asiatique,  maintains  that  the 
Dhou-Nouwas  of  Arabian  tradition  is  the  same  as  Dionysos. 
He  quotes  Pococke,  who  has  pointed  out  the  resemblances 
between  the  Arabian  Dhou-Nouwas  and  the  Dionysos  of 
ancient  tradition,  and  says  "Pococke  was  perfectly  right 
in  seeking  Bacchus  in  Arabia."  Fresnel  attempts  to  locate 
the  city  of  Nysa  "  about  forty  leagues  from  Zhafar,"  where 
there  is  a  mountain  which  Edrisi  calls  Lous,  although  the 


286  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

people  of  Mahrah  call  it  Nous;  "but  Dionysos  and  the  city 
of  Nysa  were  many  centuries  older  than  Menes,  and  no 
such  attempt  to  locate  that  city  can  be  satisfactory.  The 
very  mention  of  its  distance  from  us,  in  time,  is  sufficient 
to  give  any  dogmatic  chronologist  a  very  disagreeable 
emotion.  Fresnel  finally  comes  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
great  colonizing  and  civilizing  conquests,  which  Arabian 
tradition  ascribes  to  Dhou-Nouwas,  must  have  been  the 
work  of  several  great  princes ;  and  he  names  "  Dhou-ons 
or  Dhou-nous,  Dhoul  Karnayn,  Afrikis,  Lokman,"  and  oth- 
ers. The  fact  that  traditions  of  events  of  such  remote  an- 
tiquity can  still  be  found  in  Arabia  is  noteworthy;  but 
the  ancient  Arabian  books  that  would  give  us  an  authentic 
history  of  Dionysos  had  perished  long  before  the  Hellenes 
knew  how  to  read  and  write. 

We  naturally  expect  to  find  references  to  Dionysos  in 
the  old  Sanskrit  Puranas.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed,  how- 
ever, that  the  Sanskrit  legends  will  correspond  literally  to 
any  of  those  constructed  in  Egypt,  Asia  Minor,  or  ancient 
Greece.  Saturn  and  Cronos,  undoubtedly  the  same  per- 
sonage, and  by  the  Greeks  and  Romans  admitted  to  be  so, 
are  differently  portrayed  in  their  mythical  narratives.  "We 
must  be  prepared  to  find  in  all  such  legends  not  only  the 
very  ancient  facts  that  made  them  possible,  but  also  the 
peculiar  spirit,  genius,  and  hero-worship  of  the  composers. 
Some  Oriental  scholars  have  sought  to  identify  Dionysos 
with  the  Sanskrit  Rama,  but  with  no  satisfactory  result ; 
for  Rama  was  undeniably  a  native  of  India,  and  a  prince 
of  the  ancient  kingdom  known  to  us  as  Oude.  He  was 
much  more  modern  than  Dionysos.  The  most  probable 
identification  is  that  of  Wilford,  who  finds  Dionysos  in  the 
great  and  heroic  sovereign  celebrated  in  the  Puranas  as 


Dionysos  in  India.  287 

Nahusha,  or  Deva-Xalmsha,  and  evidently  referred  to  times 
more  ancient  than  the  Aryan  immigration.  Wilford  points 
out  that  Deva-Nahusha  is  connected  with  "  the  oldest  his- 
tory and  mythology  in  the  world."  He  is  said  to  have 
been  a  contemporary  of  Indra,  king  of  Meru,  who  was  also 
deified,  and  who  appears  in  the  Veda  as  a  principal  form 
or  representation  of  the  Supreme  Being.  The  warmest 
colors  of  imagination  are  used  in  portraying  the  greatness 
of  Deva-Nahusha.  For  a  time  he  had  sovereign  control 
of  affairs  in  Meru ;  he  conquered  the  seven  dwipas,  and  led 
his  armies  through  all  the  known  countries  of  the  world ; 
by  means  of  matchless  wisdom  and  miraculous  heroism,  he 
made  his  empire  universal.  Wilford  says : 

"  It  is  declared  in  the  Puranas  that,  when  Deva-Nahusha 
had  conquered  the  world,  he  visited  the  seat  of  his  grand 
ancestor,  Atri,  on  the  Lesser  Meru ;  and,  being  uneasy  to 
see  it  neglected,  he  sent  for  Yivasa-Carma,  the  chief  engi- 
neer of  the  gods,  and  ordered  him  to  build  on  the  spot  a 
superb  city  which  he  called  after  his  own  name,  Deva-Na- 
husha-Nagara,  which  is  accurately  rendered  Dionysipolis 
in  Greek.  It  is  called,  also,  Nahusham,  Nahusha,  and  Nau- 
sha,  from  which  the  Greeks  made  Nysa.  Nahusha  is  bet- 
ter known  in  Hindustan  by  the  emphatic  appellation  of 
Deva-Nagara,  the  divine  city.  Not  a  single  vestige  re- 
mains of  this  ancient  Nahusha  or  Nysa."  In  the  fourteenth 
volume  of  the  "  Asiatic  Researches"  is  the  following  quo- 
tation from  Sig.  Bayer  relative  to  a  passage  in  a  Sanskrit 
geographical  work:  "Mention  is  made  of  the  town  called 
Nisadaburam  in  the  Tamul  dialect,  but  in  Sanskrit  Na- 
hushapur  or  Naushapur,  from  an  ancient  and  famous  king 
of  that  name,  more  generally  called  Deva-Nahusha  and 
Deo-Naush  in  the  spoken  dialects.  He  appears  to  be  the 


288  Prc-IIistoric  Nations. 

Dionysos  of  our  ancient  mythologists,  and  reigned  near 
Mount  Meru." 

Wilson,  the  English  Orientalist,  writing  on  the  Dionys- 
iacs of  Nonnus,  after  showing  that  Rama  was  not  Diony- 
sos, attempts  to  discredit  the  view  set  forth  by  Wilford, 
but  without  producing  any  substantial  reason  for  doing  so. 
He  urges  that  "  the  history  of  Nahusha  has  nothing  in 
common  with  that  of  Bacchus ;"  and  he  might  have  added 
that  the  Bacchus  of  the  Greeks,  to  whom  he  refers,  had 
nothing  in  common  with  Dionysos.  A  just  appreciation 
of  Hellenic  mythology  should  qualify  any  scholar  to  make 
a  proper  use  of  this  fact.  The  Greeks  distorted  the  story 
of  Dionysos,  and  transformed  him.  into  their  Bacchus,  the 
son  of  Semele,  whom  they  celebrated  as  the  rollicking  and 
drunken  god  of  wine.  It  was  their  custom  to  reconstruct 
and  misuse  the  old  Cushite  mythology  whenever  they  fail- 
ed to  understand  it,  or  sought  to  appropriate  it  enthvly 
to  themselves.  Why  should  Deva-Nahusha  resemble  the 
Greek  Bacchus  ? 

Professor  Wilson  should  not  have  made  it  necessary  to 
ask  this  question.  He  should  have  seen  without  effort  that 
such  a  resemblance  would  have  made  it  impossible  to  iden- 
tify him  with  Dionysos.  Moreover,  no  one  who  studies 
and  comprehends  the  mythical  legends  of  different  nations 
will  expect  to  find  exact  resemblances  in  different  portray- 
als of  the  history  and  character  of  the  same  personairo. 
But  in  this  case  there  is  no  such  lack  of  resemblance  as 
will  justify  Professor  Wilson's  criticism,  while  in  certain 
respects  the  resemblances  are  very  striking.  It  may  be 
added  that  Wilford  had  made  the  Puranas  his  chief  study, 
and  had  gained  a  more  extended  and  thorough  knowledge 
of  the  mythical  legends  of  India  than  any  other  Oriental 


The  Indian  Myths.  289 

scholar  of  his  time.  It  could  not  fail  to  bring  important 
aid  to  our  studies  of  antiquity  if  some  other  competent 
Sanskrit  scholars  would  emulate  his  enthusiasm  for  this 
kind  of  investigation.  . 

In  Wilford's  view,  these  passages  in  the  Sanskrit  Looks, 
and  many  others  of  similar  purport,  were  important.  He 
saw  in  them  actual  recollections  of  the  earliest  period  of 
Egyptian  history.  That  they  show  actual  knowledge  of 
the  country  is  very  plain,  and  I  can  find  no  good  reason  to 
deny  that  their  historical  significance  is  equally  incontest- 
able. It  would  be  more  satisfactory  to  have  an  authentic 
history  of  the  times  to  which  they  refer ;  but  this  is  im- 
possible. We  must  be  content  with  such  light  as  can  be 
found  in  traditions  and  myths,  and  may  feel  safe  in  believ- 
ing, with  Humboldt,  that  "  myths,  when  blended  with  his- 
tory and  geography,  cannot  be  regarded  as  pertaining 
wholly  to  the  domain  of  the  ideal  world." 

We  can  see  in  the  old  Sanskrit  books  that  the  Indo-Ary- 
ans  borrowed  extensively  from  the  aboriginal  inhabitants 
of  India  materials'  to  enlarge  their  own  Pantheon,  and  en- 
rich the  legendary  lore  that  supported  and  glorified  their 
religious  institutions..  Thus  Siva  became  one  of  their  chief 
gods ;  thus  came  into  their  Puranas  and  Epic  Poems  old 
legends,  traditions,  and  mythical  personages  that  did  not 
belong  to  their  history,  and  had,  originally,  no  connection 
with  their  race.  This  borrowing  must  have  begun  very 
early ;  not  later,  certainly,  than  the  beginning  of  that  mix- 
ture of  the  two  races  in  which  the  '-Aryan  color'  was  lost. 
It  appears  in  the  great  Epic  Poems;  we  find  it  everywhere 
in  the  Puranas ;  it  is  one  of  the  most  important  and  signifi- 
cant facts  in  the  religious  history  of  the  Indo-Aryans ;  and, 
unless  it  is  fully  appreciated,  a  proper  understanding  of 

N 


290  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

their  mythical  lore  is  impossible.  In  many  cases,  this  ap- 
propriation was  carried  so  far  as  to  include  the  aboriginal 
inhabitants  themselves.  Manu,  describing  certain  aborig- 
inal peoples,  maintains  that  they  were  originally  Khastri- 
yas,  or  people  of  the  military  caste,  who  had  sunk  to  be 
Urishalas,  or  Sudras,  "through  the  extinction  of  sacred 
rites,  and  from  having  no  communication  with  Brahmans." 
He  specifies  the  "Paundrakas,  Odras,  Dravidas,  Kambqjas, 
Yavanas,  Sakas,  Paradas,  Pahlavas,  Chinas,  Kiratas,  Dara- 
das,  and  Khasas."  The  Mahabharata  adds  to  this  list  the 
Kalindas,  Pulindas,  and  others,  as  people  who  were  former- 
ly Khastriyas,  but  "  have  become  Sudras  from  seeing  no 
Brahmans."  [See  Muir's  Sanskrit  Texts,  vol.  L,  p.  177.] 
This  doctrine  was  inspired  by  the  policy  that  aimed  to 
bring  the  Dasyus,  or  native  inhabitants,  especially  those 
wlio  had  been  admitted  into  the  caste  of  Khastriyas,  to 
reverence  Brahmanism  and  submit  to  its  authority. 

We  can  see  in  the  legends  that  Pururavas,  Xahusha,  and 
others,  had  no  connection  with  Sanskrit  history.  They  arc 
referred  to  ages  very  long  anterior  to  the  Sanskrit  immi- 
gration, and  must  have  been  great  personages  celebrated 
in  the  traditions  of  the  natives,  or  Dasyus.  It  was  not  to 
glorify  these  personages  that  they  were  introduced  into 
the  Sanskrit  legends,  but  rather  to  show  that,  great  as 
they  were,  terrible  punishments  fell  upon  them  because 
they  failed  to  reverence  the  Brahmans.  Brahmans  did  not 
exist  in  their  time,  but  this  made  no  difference.  The  na- 
tive legends  were  reconstructed,  and  the  Brahmans  were 
made  to  figure  in  them  as  supreme  lords  of  the  world,  to 
whom  the  mightiest  must  submit,  whether  Aryan  or  Da- 
syn.  Pururavas  was  a  king  "  of  great  renown,  who  ruled 
over  thirteen  islands  of  the  ocean."  Beinsr  "altogether 


Antiquity  of  Dionysos.  291 

surrounded  by  inhuman  (or  superhuman)  persons,"  he  en- 
gaged in  a  contest  with  Brahmans  and  perished.  Nahusha, 
mentioned  by  Manu,  and  in  many  legends,  as  famous  for 
hostility  to  the  Brahmans,  lived  at  the  time  when  Indra 
reigned  on  earth.  He  was  a  very  great  king,  "  who  ruled 
with  justice  a  mighty  empire,"  and  attained  the  sovereign- 
ty of  three  worlds.  Being  "  intoxicated  with  pride,"  he 
was  arrogant  to  Brahmans,  compelled  them  to  bear  his  pal- 
ankeen, and  even  dared  to  touch  one  of  them  with  his  foot, 
whereupon  he  was  transformed  into  a  serpent. 

According  to  Herodotus,  the  Egyptians  placed  Dionysos, 
by  them  called  Osiris,  near  the  close  of  that  period  of  their 
history  which  was  assigned  to  the  gods.  Conversing  in  a 
temple  with  the  priests,  he  was  told  that  341  kings  had 
reigned  in  Egypt  previous  to  the  time  of  his  visit,  and  their 
images  or  statues  were  shown  in  a  chamber  of  the  temple. 
He  was  told  that,  at  first,  "  gods  had  been  rulers  of  Egypt ; 
and  that  Orus,  son  of  Osiris,  whom  the  Greeks  call  Apollo, 
was  the  last.  Now  Osiris,  in  the  Greek  tongue,  means 
Bacchus."  It  is  explained,  also,  that  Osiris,  or  Bacchus, 
"  was  not  one  of  the  eight  gods  called  original,"  nor  one  of 
the  four  subsequently  added  to  these ;  he  was  of  the  third 
order,  being  one  of  those  in  the  early  unrecorded  ages  (cer- 
tainly without  record,  and  very  mythical  in  the  time  of 
Herodotus),  "  who  were  sprung  from  the  twelve  gods ;" 
that  is  to  say,  he  was  a  human  sovereign  to  whom  divine 
honors  were  awarded  after  death.  In  all  this  we  have,  at 
least,  the  fact  that  in  Egypt  the  time  of  Dionysos  was 
placed  at  a  very  remote  period,  at  a  very  early  age,  in 
Egyptian  history,  which  agrees  with  the  Indian  and  other 
Asiatic  legends  that  made  him  contemporary  with  Indra 
and  Zeus. 


292  Pre-Historic  Nations. 


MYTHOLOGY   AND   MYTHOLOGICAL   PERSONAGES. 

Ernest  Renan,  in  his  work  on  the  Semitic  Languages,  as- 
sumes that  "monotheism  sums  up  and  explains  all  the 
characteristics"  of  the  genius  of  the  Semitic  race,  and  that 
this  race  gave  monotheism  to  the  other  races.  Even  "  In- 
dia," he  says,  "  which  has  thought  with  so  much  originality 
and  profoundness,  has  not  yet  reached  monotheism."  This 
theory,  which  is  encouraged  by  certain  tendencies  of  our 
education,  may  be  very  convenient  for  use  in  eloquent  gen- 
eralizations ;  but  it  does  not  accord  with  facts.  It  plainly 
contradicts  what  we  know  of  the  Aryan  race.  For  in- 
stance, Professor  Rawlinson,  in  his  account  of  the  ancient 
religion  of  the  Persians,  recognises  clearly  that  it  presented 
a  very  admirable  form  of  monotheism.  He  says :  "  Evi- 
dently the  Jews  and  Aryans,  when  they  became  known  to 
each  other,  recognised  mutually  the  fact  that  they  were 
worshippers  of  the  same  Great  Being.  Hence  the  favor  of 
the  Persians  towards  the  Jews,  and  the  fidelity  of  the  Jews 
towards  the  Persians.  The  Lord  God  of  the  Jews  being 
recognised  as  identical  with  Ormazd,  a  sympathetic  feeling 
united  the  peoples."  [See  his  "  Five  Monarchies."] 

The  Desatir,  or  fragment  of  the  Desatir,  found  among 
the  Parsees,  is  certainly  very  old,  whatever  may  be  thought 
of  it  in  other  respects ;  and  its  claim  to  antiquity  is  sup- 
ported by  internal  evidence.  The  first  books  inculcate  the 
purest  monotheism,  with  a  very  simple  and  inartificial  sys- 
tem of  religious  worship,  while  the  later  books  show  this 
religion  considerably  modified  by  the  influence  of  planet 
worship.  Monotheism  was  never  taught  more  distinctly, 
in  any  age  or  by  any  race,  than  in  the  first  book  of  the 
Desatir,  called  "  the  Book  of  the  Great  Abad." 


Ancient  Ai^yan  Monotheism.  293 

Mythology  implies  monotheism,  and  cannot  be  intelli- 
gently explained  without  it.  How  can  anything  be  rever- 
enced or  thought  of  as  a  manifestation  of  the  Supreme  Be- 
ing where  there  is  no  faith  in  a  Supreme  Being  ?  It  does 
not  follow  that  peoples  of  the  Aryan  race  are  incapable  of 
seeing  the  unity  of  God,  because  they  have  brought  to  re- 
ligion the  highest  and  most  active  faculty  for  poetry  and 
philosophy.  Can  Renan  find  anything  more  distinctly 
present  in  the  oldest  hymns  of  the  Rig  -Veda  than  belief 
in  God  and  perception  of  right  and  wrong  ?  One  of  these 
hymns,  referring  to  the  Supreme  Being,  speaks  of  him  as 
follows  :  "  They  call  [Him]  Indra,  Miti-a,  Varuni,  Agni  ; 
then  he  is  the  well-winged  heavenly  Garutmat  ;  that  which 
is  One  the  wise  call  in  many  ways  ;  they  call  it  Agni, 
Yama,  Matarisvan."  We  read  in  the  Orphic  Fragments 
that  all  the  gods  were  one  alone  : 

'Etc  ZEUC,  ttc  AYcijCj  "C  'HXtoc,  et 


Hermesianax  is  quoted  as  follows  : 

Ki/Trp/c,  Epwrtp, 


•&',  'll^atffoc  re  KXvroc,  Ha*',  Zeuc  re,  K.XU  'Up?/, 
Apre/ztc,  TjS'  'Eraepyoc  ATroXXwv,  etc  QCOQ  taiv, 

which  means  that  one  god  are  Pluto,  Persephone,  Demeter, 
Venus,  Cupid,  Triton,  Nereus,  Tethys,  Neptune,  Hermes, 
Vulcan,  Pan,  Zeus,  Hera,  Artemis,  and  Apollo.  Mythology 
was  brought  into  existence  by  recognising  the  sun,  the 
stars,  the  forces  of  nature,  and  great  heroes  and  sages,  as 
manifestations  of  some  attribute  or  activity  of  this  one 
God.  No  form  of  religion  had  a  wider  or  more  powerful 
influence  in  the  great  pre-historic  past  than  planet  worship, 


29i  P I'v-llistoric  Nation*. 

with  its  phallic  and  orphic  accompaniments ;  and  yet  it 
would  have  been  impossible  without  monotheism.  It  was 
based  on  the  idea  of  one  Supreme  Being,  who  was  symbol- 
ized or  manifested  in  the  sun  and  the  stars,  and  from  whom 
proceeded  the  vital  forces  of  nature.  It  was  easy  to  in- 
clude among  these  divine  manifestations  great  heroes  and 
sages,  whose  influence  as  deliverers,  civilizers,  reformers,  or 
rulers,  seemed  to  regulate  the  destiny  and  determine  the 
history  of  peoples  where  they  appeared.  A  great  king  or 
sage,  whose  life  and  influence  filled  and  swayed  nations, 
seemed  to  stand  far  above  ordinary  mortals,  and  thus,  after 
his  death,  easily  became  honored  as  a  form  or  manifestation 
of  the  Supreme  Being,  or  of  some  recognised  and  greatly 
venerated  form  of  that  Being.  lie  was  a  man,  and,  at  the 
same  time,  more  than  man ;  he  was  an  incarnation,  an  ava- 
tar, a  special  embodiment  of  divine  wisdom  and  power. 
Thus  were  men  deified ;  thus  was  mythology  created. 

The  Dabistan,  citing  old  Iranian  books,  gives  part  of  a 
conversation  between  a  celebrated  sage,  named  Dawir  Har- 
ydr,  and  another  person,  in  which  they  inquired  whether 
prophets  were  higher  in  dignity  than  the  sun.  Dawir 
maintained  that  they  were  not.  They  were  superior  to  the 
rest  of  the  human  race,  but  not  greater  than  the  sun.  "  Be- 
hold," said  he,  "what  an  amount  of  light  is  diffused  by  the 
solar  globe,  whereas  the  bodies  of  your  saints  are  desti- 
tute of  splendor;  therefore  rest  assured  that  his  spirit  is 
more  resplendent  than  theirs.  Know,  besides,  that  the  sun 
is  the  heart  of  the  heavens ;  if  he  existed  not,  this  world 
of  formation  and  dissolution  could  not  continue ;  he  brings 
forth  the  seasons  and  the  productive  energies  of  nature ;" 
therefore  the  sun  was  the  highest  and  brightest  manifesta- 
tion of  God  known  to  mortals. 


Monotheism  jwecedcs  Polytheism.  '2\)5 

Polytheism  can  appear  only  where  mythology  has  be- 
come so  confused,  corrupted,  and  debased,  that  the  idea  in 
which  it  originated  has  disappeared  or  become  obscured. 
I  cannot  suppose  that  polytheism  ever  was,  or.  ever  could 
be,  the  first  form  of  religion  among  any  people,  for  in  every 
case  where  there  are  records  or  monuments  to  show  the 
earliest  religious  faith  of  any  people,  we  find  in  it  the  least 
obscured  form  of  monotheism,  with  the  simplest  system  of 
religious  worship.  Compare  the  oldest  hymns  of  the  Rig- 
Veda  with  the  later  developments  of  Brahmanism,  or  the 
religion  of  the  oldest  Iranian  books  with  that  of  the  later 
age,  when  Ecbatana  stood  with  its  seven  differently  colored 
walls,  symbolizing  the  religious  system  of  its  inhabitants, 
or  the  oldest  religion  that  can  be  traced  in  Egypt  with 
that  of  later  times. 

But  Dionysos,  or  Osiris,  has  led  me  to  a  discussion  of 
mythology,  which  requires  a  volume  rather  than  a  few  par- 
agraphs. What  I  have  said  may  serve  to  explain  how  he 
became  a  personage  of  mythology.  The  Egyptians,  and 
all  others  who  speak  of  him,  tell  us  he  was  a  human  sover- 
eign, the  greatest  known  when  he  lived,  and  reverently  de- 
ified after  his  death.  We  have  no  right  to  take  any  other 
view  of  him.  Dionysos  was  a  great  monarch  of  the  Cush- 
ite  Arabians.  He  seems  to  represent  the  epoch  when  the 
Cushite  race,  extending  their  conquests,  gained  entire  con- 
trol of  the  northern  and  central  countries  of  India.  This 
occurred  long  ages  before  the  Aryans  went  there,  and 
many  ages  lay  between  that  time  and  the  period  when 
Menes  began  the  Old  Monarchy  of  Egypt.  When  Diony- 
sos reigned  in  Arabia,  both  India  and  Egypt  were  prov- 
inces of  his  empire.  He  has  been  introduced  here  be- 
cause his  power  seems  to  have  been  used  in  the  wisest  and 


29G  Pre-IIistoric  Nations. 

most  beneficent  manner  to  develop  the  civilization  of  the 
Egyptians,  for  this  must  be  the  reason  why,  as  Osiris,  he 
was  so  intimately  associated  with  the  religious  thought 
and  feeling  Of  that  country. 

THE    AGES   BEFORE   MEXES. 

It  is  not  certain  that  Menes  was  the  first  king  of  united 
Egypt.  His  name  heads  all  the  lists,  but  there  is  no  con- 
clusive reply  to  those  who  maintain  that  this  happens 
merely  because  he  is  the  earliest  king  whose  name  has  been 
preserved  on  the  monuments  still  existing,  and,  consequent- 
ly, the  earliest  known  to  the  later  Egyptian  annalists ; 
for  we  have  neither  record  nor  inscription  to  show  that  lie 
was  actually  the  sovereign  who  united  Upper  and  Lower 
Egypt,  or  that  he  was  not  preceded  by  other  sovereigns 
of  the  "  Two  Countries."  We  must,  however,  accept  Menes 
as  the  first  king,  for  Egyptian  chronology  begins  with  him, 
and,  according  to  Manetho,  the  regular  history  of  united 
Egypt  began  with  his  reign.  From  his  time  onward  there 
is  nothing  mythical,  nothing  improbable,  nothing  that  is 
not  supported  by  inscriptions  found  in  the  ruins. 

Ernest  Renan,  reviewing  the  discoveries  of  M.  Mariette 
[Revue  des  Deux  Mondes,  tome  50],  points  out  that  Egypt 
at  the  beginning  appears  mature,  old,  and  entirely  without 
mythical  and  heroic  ages,  as  if  the  country  had  never 
kno\vn  youth.  Its  civilization  has  no  infancy,  and  its  art 
no  archaic  epoch.  This  was  true  of  Egypt  in  the  time  of 
Menes.  The  civilization  of  the  Old  Monarchy  did  not  be- 
gin with  infancy.  It  was  already  mature.  But  Egypt  did 
not  begin  with  the  age  of  Menes.  There  was  already  a  very 
long  past  in  the  history  of  the  country  when  it  was  united 
under  one  government,  which  consisted,  first,  of  the  ages 


The  Date  of  Dionysos.  297 

during  which  the  "  Two  Countries"  existed  under  separate 
governments  ;  and,  second,  of  the  vaguely  indicated  myth- 
ical ages,  when,  it  is  said,  Egypt  was  governed  by  gods 
and  demigods.  The  first  colonists  settled  in  Egypt  were 
undoubtedly  civilized;  but  the  country  had  an  infancy, 
and  its  art  an  archaic  period,  which  would  be  found  if 
there  were  history  to  take  us  back  far  enough  beyond  the 
Old  Monarchy  and  its  monuments  to  reach  them. 

Megasthenes,  reporting  Indian  traditions,  stated  that  Di- 
onysos founded  the  first  regular  monarchy  in  India,  and 
that  he  was  revered  as  the  sole  ruler  of  the  country  during 
the  three  years  he  remained  there.  It  is  added  that,  when 
he  left,  he  established  on  the  throne  Spartembas,  one  of 
the  princes  who  attended  him,  and  who  was  most  honored 
with  his  regard  and  confidence.  Spartembas,  having  reign^ 
ed  fifty-two  years,  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Budyas,  who 
reigned  twenty  years,  and  was  succeeded  by  Grade vas; 
and  this  dynasty  continued  to  flourish  in  regular  lineal 
descent  for  many  generations.  He  reckoned  6042  years 
between  Dionysos  and  Alexander — an  estimate  that  is 
more  likely  to  be  too  small  than  too  large.  Could  we  go 
back  to  that  age,  and  visit  the  countries  on  the  Nile,  we 
should  be  likely  to  find  Egypt  in  its  infancy.  Many  inves- 
tigators, however,  are  usually  more  frightened  at  the  men- 
tion of  such  dates  than  disposed  to  accept  and  comprehend 
the  antiquity  they  indicate.  There  is  always  a  tendency 
to  reduce  dates  and  contract  the  past,  even  when  investi- 
gators are  guided  by  a  free  spirit  and  an  honest  purpose, 
because  there  is  always  some  failure  to  realize  and  appre- 
ciate the  whole  extent  of  remote  ages  that  have  become 
more  or  less  mythical. 

Although  we  have  neither  history  nor  chronology  of 
N  2 


298  P re-IIistoriG  Nations. 

Egypt  previous  to  Menes,  yet  we  can  not  avoid  the  ten- 
dency to  inquire  concerning  those  earlier  ages.  They  can- 
not be  measured ;  but  the  records  tell  us  of  a  dynasty  of 
ten  Thiuite  kings  who  reigned  in  Upper  Egypt,  and  of  one 
or  two  dynasties  that  reigned  in  Lower  Egypt,  before 
Menes  appeared ;  and  the  previous  history  of  the  "  Two 
Countries"  appears  to  have  been  very  long.  There  were 
still  earlier  ages,  in  which  demigods  and  men  were  rulers ; 
and  at  the  beginning,  a  vast  period  created  by  cyclical  in- 
vention, in  which  "the  gods  reigned."  Bunsen  believed 
the  history  of  Egypt  previous  to  Menes  was  longer  than 
that  after  his  time.  Without  accepting  Bunsen's  belief,  we 
can  see  plainly  that  the  previous  history  was  very  long, 
and  understand  very  well  why  the  civilization  of  the  coun- 
try was  mature,  and  even  old,  at  the  beginning  of  the  Old 
Monarchy. 

Learned  and  thoughtful  Egyptologists  generally  agree 
that  the  empire  of  Menes  in  his  own  time  "  evidently  rest- 
ed on  a  basis  of  previous  centuries,"  during  which  there 
had  been  gradual  and  great  development  of  civilization 
and  national  character;  for  the  people  of  that  country,  al- 
though previously  divided  into  separate  communities,  were 
essentially  the  same  in  religion,  ideas,  character,  and  en- 
lightenment. Under  Menes  they  were  already  a  numerous, 
enlightened,  and  powerful  people,  and  not  at  all  a  barbar- 
ous nation  just  emerging  from  the  darkness  and  disorder 
of  savage  life.  They  had  letters,  science,  and  art.  Lepsius 
says,  "We  learn  from  the  historical  accounts  relating  to 
the  first  dynasties,  which  are  still  preserved,  that  even  at 
that  time  they  had  ' Annals  of  the  Monarchy?  "  Some  of 
the  greatest  remains  of  the  Old  Monarchy,  that  show  the 
highest  style  of  Egyptian  art,  and  still  engage  the  wonder 


Antiquity  of  Egyptian  Civilization.          299 

of  mankind,  belong  to  those  first  dynasties.  Under  the 
fourth  dynasty,  when  the  two  great  pyramids  were  built, 
the  nation  seems  to  have  approached  the  highest  glory  of 
that  wonderful  development  of  intelligence  and  power  to 
which,  after  the  flight  of  nearly  6000  years,  the  ruins  still 
bear  witness,  and  to  which  they  will  continue  to  bear  wit- 
ness for  ages  to  come. 

The  foundations  of  this  greatness  were  not  the  work  of 
miracle,  therefore  they  were  not  laid  in  a  day  or  a  year. 
They  were  the  result  of  many  ages  of  preparation  in  the 
life,  growth,  culture,  and  general  condition  of  the  people. 
It  is  very  true  that  the  Cushite  colonists  who  settled  in 
Upper  Egypt  brought  letters  and  civilization  from  their 
native  country,  and  that  their  growth  to  great  eminence  as 
a  nation  was  not  like  that  of  a  people  that  rises  from  bar- 
barism by  the  energy  of  its  own  genius,  and  develops  a 
great  civilization.  It  is  not  certain,  however,  that  any  peo- 
ple, since  the  first  ages  of  the  world,  has  risen  in  this  way 
without  the  aid  and  incitement  of  external  influences.  No 
people  that  has  become  enlightened,  since  the  first  ages, 
was  left  unvisited  by  such  assistance.  But  the  civilization 
of  Egypt  in  the  time  of  Menes  had  assumed  a  striking  in- 
dividuality of  its  own.  It  had  become  essentially  Egyp- 
tian. It  was  already  what  we  find  it  in  the  monuments  and 
ruins.  This  transformation,  necessarily  gradual  and  almost 
imperceptible  in  its  progress,  required  a  long  period  of 
time ;  therefore  centuries  of  Egyptian  life  and  develop- 
ment must  have  preceded  the  beginning  of  the  Old  Mon- 
archy. 

This  changed  and  reconstructed  spirit  and  character  of 
the  people,  this  essentially  Egyptian  individuality,  which 
had  grown  silently  out  of  the  peculiar  forms,  conditions, 


300  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

relations,  and  influences  of  the  physical  nature  in  which 
they  lived,  was  manifest  in  everything.  Ages  of  gradual 
and  unconscious  development  had  established  harmony  be- 
tween people  and  country.  It  appeared  even  in  their  ad- 
mirable system  of  monumental  writing,  which,  without 
explanation  of  its  origin,  showed  already  its  highest  per- 
fection in  the  oldest  ruins.  Professor  Lepsius  says  of  it : 

"  From  the  choice  of  the  pictures  in  the  hieroglyphics, 
and  from  other  reasons,  it  appears  entirely  justifiable  to 
suppose  that  this  wonderful  picture-writing  of  the  Egyp- 
tians was  formed,  writh  reference  to  its  peculiar  character- 
istics, in  Egypt  itself,  without  any  other  influence  from 
abroad,  although  they  may  have  brought  the  first  begin- 
ning of  it  from  their  original  home  in  Asia.  But  that  a 
people  should  produce  anything  so  perfect  as  this  system 
of  writing,  which  embraces  at  once  all  the  stages  of  human 
writing,  from  the  most  ideographical  symbolic  writ  ins; 
through  syllables,  to  the  equally  direct  notation  of  sound 
by  means  of  vowels  and  consonants,  certainly  indicates  a 
long  previous  development."  [Introduction  to  "  Die  Chro- 
nologic der  ^Egypter.] 

ANTIQUITY    OP   WRITING   IN    EGYPT. 

In  no  other  old  nation  of  which  we  have  sufficient  knowl- 
edge to  form  an  opinion  on  this  point  was  the  art  of  writ- 
ing so  perfect  or  so  largely  used  as  in  Egypt,  especially 
for  memorial  and  historical  purposes.  "Their  temples 
were  almost  covered  with  inscriptions ;  all  buildings  erect- 
ed to  the  gods,  to  the  kings,  and  to  the  dead,  had  repre- 
sentations and  inscriptions  on  all  the  walls,  ceilings,  pillars, 
architraves,  friezes,  and  jpsts,  inside  as  well  as  outside." 
And  their  book  literature  seems  to  have  been  correspond- 


Ancient  Egyptian  Libraries.  301 

ingly  abundant.  The  library  must  have  been  a  very  early 
institution.  We  hear  of  it  even  in  the  fragments  of  Egyp. 
tian  history  that  still  remain.  Diodorus  Siculus,  i.,  49, 
describes  a  great  library  of  Rameses  the  Great,  whom  he 
calls  Osymandyas,  whose  time  was  in  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury before  the  Christian  era.  The  rooms  of  this  library 
were  in  the  temple  of  Rameses  at  Thebes,  and  they  have 
been  found,  recognised,  and  described  by  Champollion  and 
by  Lepsius.  The  latter  says,  in  his  "  Letters  from  Egypt :" 
"  The  description  of  this  splendid  building  given  by 
Diodorus  may  still  be  traced  from  one  chamber  to  another 
among  its  ruins.  At  the  entrance — behind  which,  accord- 
ing to  Diodorus,  the  library  was  situated — Champollion 
perceived,  on  both  sides,  the  representation  of  Thoth,  the 
god  of  wisdom,  and  of  Saf,  the  goddess  of  history;  then, 
behind  the  former,  the  god  of  hearing,  and  behind  the  lat- 
ter, the  god  of  seeing.  Several  hieratical  papyri  which  we 
still  possess  are  dated  from  the  '  Rameseion,'  and  it  is  also 
frequently  mentioned  in  the  so-called  historical  papyri.  I 
found  in  Thebes  the  tombs  of  two  librarians  of  the  time 
of  Rameses  the  Great,  and  therefore  probably  belonging 
to  the  library  described  by  Diodorus.  They  were  father 
and  son.  The  father  was  called  Neb-nufre,  the  son  Nufre- 
hetep,  and  they  both  bore  the  titles  of  her  scha  tu,  '  Supe- 
rior over  the  Books,'  and  naa  en  scha  tu,  '  Chief  over  the 
Books.'  We  have  good  reason  to  believe  this  library,  of 
which  we  have  incidentally  still  farther  mention,  was  not 
the  first  nor  the  only  one.  Thoth  and  Saf  bear  among 
their  fixed  titles,  not  only  here,  but  on  other  monuments 
of  all  classes,  the  former  that  of  Master,  and  the  latter  that 
of  Mistress  of  the  Hall  of  Books;  consequently  the  idea  of 
gods  of  libraries  had  long  been  familiar  to  the  Egyptians." 


302  P re-llistoric  Nations. 

Books,  and  collections  of  books,  in  Egypt,  were  undoubt- 
edly, like  the  art  of  writing  itself,  much  older  than  Menes. 
Among  a  people  whose  monuments  show  such  an  eminent 
decree  of  the  "historical  sense,"  we  may  suppose  that  his- 
torical productions  in  the  form  of  Annals,  written  and  pre- 
served in  the  temples,  were  the  first  writings.  That  old 
literature  has  all,  or  nearly  all,  perished.  Nevertheless, 
there  still  exist  some  Egyptian  manuscripts  that  were  writ- 
ten near  the  beginning  of  the  New  Monarchy,  and  that  arc 
from  1500  to  2000  years  older  than  any  other  original 
manuscripts  now  in  existence.  It  was  different  2500  years 
ago,  when  Solon  visited  E£ypt.  Then  Egypt  had  books 
and  libraries  in  abundance ;  the  old  Annals  still  existed  in 
the  temples,  and  a  priest  at  Sais.said  to  Solon,  with  entire 
confidence  in  the  truth  of  his  statement, 

"  You  Greeks  are  novices  in  knowledge  of  antiquity. 
You  are  ignorant  of  what  passed,  either  here  or  among 
yourselves,  in  days  of  old.  The  history  of  8000  years  is 
deposited  in  our  sacred  books ;  but  I  can  ascend  to  a  much 
higher  antiquity,  and  tell  you  what  our  fathers  have  done 
for  9000  years — I  mean  their  institutions,  their  laws,  and 
their  most  brilliant  achievements." 

Neither  Solon,  who  listened  to  this  statement,  nor  Plato, 
in  whose  writings  it  has  been  preserved,  considered  it  im- 
probable. They  saw  no  reason  why  it  could  not  be  true. 
Neither  can  we.  It  would  have  been  surprising  if  the 
Egyptians,  at  that  time,  had  not  still  preserved  old  records 
of  the  early  periods  of  their  history ;  and  whatever  we,  in 
presence  of  excited  chronological  dogmatism,  may  allow 
ourselves  to  think  of  the  "  8000  years,"  we  cannot  reason- 
ably bring  ourselves  to  deny  that  the  early  history  of  that 
country  extended  through  many  centuries  beyond  the  age 
of  Menes. 


Mr.  Hornets  Investigations.  303 

ATTEMPTS   TO   MEASTTEE   EGYPTIAN   ANTIQUITY. 

In  modern  times  attempts  have  been  made  to  throw 
light  on  the  antiquity  of  Egypt  by  determining  the  age 
of  the  alluvial  deposit  that  forms  the  Nile  Valley,  of  which 
the  most  important  is  that  of  Mr.  Leonard  Horner,  between 
the  years  1851  and  1854.  These  attempts  have  proceeded 
on  the  hypothesis  that  the  age  of  the  deposit,  at  any  given 
point,  could  be  discovered  by  first  ascertaining  the  average 
depth  of  the  accumulation  in  a  single  century,  and  then 
measuring  the  whole  depth  of  the  alluvium.  Mr.  Horner 
undertook  this  work  at  the  suggestion  of  the  Royal  Society 
of  London,  and  the  necessary  funds  were  furnished  by  this 
society  and  by  Abba,s  Pacha,  the  viceroy  of  Egypt.  Hav- 
ing secured  the  most  competent  assistants,  he  penetrated 
and  explored  the  alluvium  in  different  places  by  means  of 
ninety-five  pits  or  shafts  and  artesian  borings. 

Fifty-one  of  these  shafts  and  borings  were  on  a  line 
crossing  the  valley  from  east  to  west,  between  the  Arabian 
and  Libyan  deserts,  in  the  latitude  of  Heliopolis,  and  twen- 
ty-seven of  them  on  the  parallel  of  Memphis.  The  char- 
acter of  the  deposit  was  uniform  from  top  to  bottom.  The 
bones  of  quadrupeds  were  found,  such  as  the  ox,  hog,  dog, 
dromedary,  and  ass,  all  belonging  to  living  species,  which 
shows  that  the  formation  of  the  Nile  belongs  to  what  ge- 
ologists call  the  Recent  Period.  Jars,  vases,  pots,  a  small 
human  figure  in  burnt  clay,  a  copper  knife,  burnt  bricks, 
and  other  articles  of  human  manufacture,  were  found,  some 
of  them  near  the  bottom  of  the  alluvium.  Brick  and  pot- 
tery were  found  everywhere  and  at  all  depths,  sometimes 
sixty  feet  below  the  surface,  showing  that  men  who  used 
such  things  must  have  occupied  that  valley  as  soon  as  any 


304  Pre-Historiv  Nations. 

part  of  it  became  habitable.  It  is  not  improbable,  however, 
that  some  of  the  articles  brought  up  from  the  lowest 
depths  may  have  found  their  way  into  the  sediment  from 
boats  and  other  water-craft  from  the  upper  country,  float- 
ing above  it,  when  that  part  of  the  valley,  or  a  large  por- 
tion of  it,  was  still  covered  with  water. 

New  and  interesting  facts  were  brought  to  light  by  these 
explorations,  but  they  failed  to  settle  accurately  and  con- 
clusively the  age  of  the  Lower  Nile  Valley.  The  nearest 
approach  to  obtaining  an  accurate  chronometric  scale  for 
ascertaining  the  age  of  the  first  deposits  of  sediment  at  a 
given  point  was  made  near  Memphis,  at  the  statue  of  King 
Rameses.  It  is  known  that  this  statue  was  set  up  about 
the  year  1260  before  Christ.  In  1854  it  had  stood  there 
3114  years,  and  during  that  time  the  alluvium  had  accu- 
mulated around  it  to  the  depth  of  nine  feet  and  four  inches 
above  its  base,  which  was  at  the  rate  of  about  three  and  a 
half  inches  in  each  century.  Mr.  Homer  found  that  the 
alluvium  below  the  base  of  this  statue  was  30  feet  deep. 
His  excavations  went  down  32  feet,  but  the  last  two  feet 
were  through  sand.  Assuming  the  rate  of  accumulation 
previous  to  the  erection  of  the  statue  to  have  been  the  same 
as  afterwards,  it  follows  that  the  formation  of  the  alluvium 
began,  at  that  point,  about  11,660  years  before  the  Chris- 
tian Era.  Bunsen  places  entire  confidence  in  this  estimate, 
suggesting  only  that  the  period  named  is  too  short,  because 
the  lower  part  of  the  deposit  was  more  pressed  together 
and  compact  than  the  upper  part.  At  the  statue,  pottery 
was  found  within  four  inches  of  the  bottom,  and  within 
sixteen  inches  of  the  bottom  at  another  point  354  yards 
distant  from  it. 

One  thing  is  very  clear,  and  does  not  need  entire  accu 


Bunsen  on  Egyptian  Antiquity.  305 

racy  in  such  measurements  and  estimates  to  make  it  more 
so.  These  explorations  show  beyond  question  that  the 
great  structures  of  the  Old  Monarchy  of  Egypt,  as  well  as 
those  of  the  New  Monarchy,  were  built  on  a  soil  which  had 
been  previously  occupied,  for  a  very  long  period,  by  a  peo- 
ple who  manufactured  pottery,  used  copper,  burnt  brick, 
and  had  other  appliances  of  civilized  life ;  and  also  that  a 
very  large  part  of  the  alluvium  which  forms  the  valley 
was  accumulated  between  the  beginning  of  that  occupation 
and  the  building  of  those  wonderful  structures.  Whether 
the  first  colonists  went  to  Egypt  more  than  11,000  years 
before  the  Christian  Era,  as  Bunsen  supposes,  which  many 
will  regard  as  romantic  theory,  or  whether  they  went  there ' 
at  a  later  period,  which  appears  more  probable  and  more 
in  accordance  with  other  facts,  it  is  nevertheless  certain 
that  the  communities  they  established  had  a  very  long  ex- 
istence, and,  without  doubt,  an  important  history  before 
the  "  Two  Countries"  they  created  were  united  under  one 
government,  and  began  that  great  career  of  which  we  have 
an  authentic  chronology, 'and  which  can  still  be  studied  in 
its  abundant  monuments. 


vm. 

AFRICA  AND  THE  ARABIAN  CUSHITES. 

In  the  popular  estimation,  Africa  is  almost  wholly  a  con- 
tinent of  savage  negroes.  Even  intelligent  people,  who 
know  something  of  Egypt,  Abyssinia,  and  the  Mediterra- 
nean coast  of  Africa,  have  entertained  much  the  same  no- 
tion of  the  whole  interior  and  southern  portions  of  the  Af- 
rican continent.  Until  recently  the  inner  regions  were 
mostly  unvisited  by  Europeans.  They  were  covered  with 
a  veil  of  mystery.  Their  inhabitants  were  described  by 
fancy,  or  were  assumed  to  be  the  same  in  race,  condition, 
and  character  as  those  found,  or,  rather,  those  degraded 
and  brutalized  by  slave-traders,  on  the  coast  of  Guinea. 
In  recent  times  Africa  has  been  extensively  explored  by 
travelers,  and  much  has  been  done  to  correct  this  misap- 
prehension. The  means  of  gaining  a  better  knowledge  of 
both  the  geography  and  the  inhabitants  of  that  great  and 
hitherto  uncomprehended  division  of  the  globe  are  now 
abundant.  Nevertheless,  the  difference  between  Africa  as 
portrayed  by  romancing  ignorance,  and  Africa  as  described 
by  intelligent  travelers,  is  not  yet  clearly  understood  by 
many  persons  who  claim  to  be  enlightened. 

The  old  notion  that  Africa  is  chiefly  a  land  of  black  sav- 
ages arose  from  ignorance  of  the  country,  which  could  not 
be  removed,  but,  on  the  contrary,  was  heightened  by  slave- 
trading  communication  with  the  "Western  Coast.  Slave- 
traders,  whose  operations  were  confined  to  the  coast  re- 


The  People  of  Central  Africa.  307 

gions  on  the  Gulf  of  Guinea,  very  naturally  fostered  this 
notion.  They  could  not  describe  truthfully  what  came  un- 
der their  own  observation,  but  they  sought  to  excuse  their 
own  frightful  savagery  by  describing  Africa  as  a  land  of 
negroes  in  the  darkest  and  most  hopeless  condition  of  de- 
basement. '  When  this  had  been  repeated  many  times,  they 
ventured  to  represent  their  kidnapping  villanies  as  mis- 
sionary agencies,  intent  on  transferring  savages  to  Chris- 
tian countries  for  their  own  good.  It  was  absurd  to  ex- 
pect valuable  information  from  this  source. 

Moreover,  but  little  knowledge  of  the  African  continent 
can  be  acquired  by  communication  with  that  part  of  the 
Western  Coast.  There  has  been  no  exploration  of  the  in- 
terior table-land  from  the  coast  of  Guinea,  and  only  one  or 
two  travelers  have  penetrated  the  continent  from  any  oth- 
er point  on  the  Atlantic.  All  the  great  and  successful  ex- 
plorations of  Central  Airica  have  proceeded  from  the  east 
and  the  north. 

THE    RACES   IN   AFEICA. 

In  point  of  fact,  the  great  majority  of  the  people  inhabit- 
ing this  grand  division  of  the  globe  are  not  negroes.  Peo- 
ple of  the  negro  race — meaning  those  described  as  "  typ- 
ical negroes,"  with  all  others  who  closely  approach  this 
type  —  occupy  but  a  small  part  of  Africa.  They  dwell 
chiefly  on  the  low  coast-lands  around  the  Gulf  of  Guinea, 
but  are  found  in  a  few  other  narrow  districts  in  different 
parts  of  the  continent.  W'hether  their  habitat  was  more 
extensive  and  their  number  greater  in  remote  pre-historic 
times  cannot  now  be  determined,  although  this  seems  im- 
plied by  the  extent  of  an  evident  mixture  of  this  negro  ele- 
ment with  the  blood  of  other  African  races.  It  is  manifest 


308  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

that  Africa  at  a  remote  period  was  the  theatre  of  great 
movements  and  mixtures  of  peoples  and  races,  and  that  its 
interior  countries  had  then  a  closer  connection  with  the 
great  civilizations  of  the  world  than  at  any  time  during 
the  period  called  historical. 

Africa,  away  from  the  coasts,  is  generally  an  elevated 
table-land,  mostly  well  watered,  fertile,  and  healthy.  The 
great  body  of  its  people  consists  of  a  brown  or  olive-col- 
ored race,  occasionally  described  as  the  "Red  Race,"  in 
which  some  travelers  and  ethnologists  find  a  resemblance 
to  the  Malays ;  but  in  Africa  this  race  is  seldom  found  en- 
tirely pure ;  in  every  part  of  the  country  it  shows  very 
clearly  the  signs  of  intermixture  with  other  races,  both 
white  and  black.  These  signs  of  mixed  blood  have  been 
noticed  by  travelers  who  have  described  this  race,  as  I  shall 
presently  show  under  another  head.  Dr.  Livingstone  calls 
attention  to  them  while  describing  the  brown  race  as  he 
found  it  at  the  south,  and  insisting  that  the  "  true  type"  of 
the  African  people  is  not  that  found  on  the  Western  Coast. 
The  Arabian  Cushites  appear  to  have  found  this  dark 
brown  or  olive-colored  race  in  India  and  on  the  islands  of 
the  Indian  Seas.  In  its  original  condition  it  may  have 
been  primitive  in  both  regions,  but  there  is  nothing  to  ex 
plain  either  its  origin  or  its  history. 

Certain  writers  have  maintained,  with  great  confidence 
and  some  ingenuity,  that  the  negroes  of  Africa  are  an  ex- 
ceptional people,  and  not  a  distinct  race.  The  theory  is, 
that  tribes  of  the  brown  race,  settling  in  the  low  districts 
of  the  "Western  Coast,  or  in  other  malarious  regions,  will 
gradually  assume  the  negro  type,  being  changed  by  pecu- 
liar physical  influences  permanently  operating  in  such  lo- 
calities; or,  to  state  it  in  the  words  of  3Ir.  Reed,  one  of  its 


Theory  on  the  Negro  Mace.  309 

advocates,  "The  true  Africans,  a  red -skinned  race,  de- 
scending from  the  table-land  into  the  swamps,  become  de- 
graded in  body  and  mind,  and  their  type  is  completely 
changed."  He  describes  a  brown  tribe,  called  "Fans," 
who  have  lately  approached  the  coast  of  Guinea,  and  gives 
a  lively  picture  of  the  change  that  awaits  them.  In  the 
course  of  a  few  generations,  he  imagines,  their  fine  forms 
will  become  ugly,  their  long,  curling  black  hair  will  become 
short,  crisp,  and  woolly,  and  their  fine,  olive-colored  com- 
plexion will  turn  to  a  coal  black.  This  is  pure  hypothesis, 
very  entertaining,  it  may  be,  to  its  inventors,  and  full  of 
friendship  for  another  unsupported  hypothesis  that  under- 
takes to  explain  the  origin  and  early  condition  of  the  hu- 
man race,  but  with  no  support  save  the  ingenious  devices 
of  fancy.  The  reply  to  its  advocates  is  obvious,  and  sober 
reason  must  regard  it  as  unanswerable. 

In  the  first  place,  it  must  be  said  that  for  a  long  time 
there  has  been  quite  too  much  exaggeration  and  extrava- 
gant over-statement  relative  to  the  assumed  natural  inferi- 
ority and  degradation  of  the  negro  race  in  Africa.  The 
Negroes  are  chiefly  on  the  Western  Coast,  where  for  ages 
they  have  felt  the  savage  influence  of  slave-traders.  De- 
basement could  not  fail  to  be  the  result;  and  yet,  in  the 
portrayals  of  the  most  unscrupulous  blackguard  that  has 
ever  written  in  the  interest  of  slave-traders,  we  can  see 
that  the  negroes  of  the  Guinea  Coast  are  nowise  inferior  to 
any  other  coast  population  of  the  country,  where  this  bru- 
talizing influence  has  controlled  all  intercourse  between 
the  natives  and  Europeans.  Nor  can  it  be  said  that,  even 
as  we  know  them,  they  are  not  superior  to  some  of  the 
more  degraded  families  of  the  brown  race,  such  as  the 
Saabs  or  Bushmen.  When  these  Bushmen  arc  under  con- 


310  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

sideration,  their  physical  and  social  degradation  is  not 
treated  as  an  essential  characteristic  of  their  race ;  nor  is  it 
said  by  anybody  that  the  great  degradation  of  this  family 
of  the  brown  race  has  produced  a  new  type  of  mankind. 

In  the  second  plac*e,  if«the  negroes  were  not  a  distinct 
race,  the  negro  type  would  not  be  permanent.  If  they 
were,  in  reality,  nothing  more  than  tribes  of  the  brown 
race,  transformed  by  physical  influences  of  the  localities 
where  we  find  them,  they  could  escape  from  this  negro 
type  and  recover  the  lost  traits  of  the  race  to  which  they 
really  belong  by  leaving  the  low  lands  and  returning  to 
the  upper  country.  Removal  from  the  unfriendly  regions 
of  swamp  and  miasma,  where  they  have  become  "  typical 
negroes,"  to  the  wholesome  lands  of  the  interior,  or  to 
other  countries,  would  certainly  be  followed  by  a  return 
of  the  physiological  peculiarities  they  have  lost.  The 
natural  characteristics  of  the  brown  race  would  reappear ; 
the  fine  form,  the  long,  curling  hair,  and  the  olive-col- 
ored complexion  would  come  back  to  reveal  and  vindi- 
cate the  race  which  the  bad  locality  had  obscured.  But 
this  never  happens.  No  such  return  from  the  negro  type 
to  the  brown  type  is  ever  seen,  either  in  Africa  or  any- 
where else ;  therefore  it  is  certain  that  the  physiological 
peculiarities  of  the  former  are  natural  and  permanent,  and 
that  they  indicate  a  positive  distinction  of  race. 

In  the  third  place,  such  a  law  of  transformation  as  this 
theory  assumes  would  not  confine  its  operations  to  the  low 
districts  on  the  Gulf  of  Guinea.  A  natural  law  cannot  be 
capricious.  Its  operation  is  uniform.  It  is  steady,  sure, 
changeless,  with  nothing  uncertain  or  doubtful  in  its  influ- 
ence. If  there  were  a  natural  law  by  virtue  of  which  the 
brown  people  of  Africa  are  sure  to  become  negroes  if  they 


Max  Mutt&r  on  the  Hindus.  311 

settle  near  the  coast  on  the  Gaboon  River,  all  similar  re- 
gions would  be  inhabited  by  negroes.  The  same  trans- 
forming power  would  be  felt  in  the  great  valleys  of  the 
Amazon  and  the  Oronoco,  and  there  would  have  been  more 
negroes  in  South  America  than-  in  Africa.  The  red  or 
brown  aborigines  of  the  country  could  not  have  escaped 
that  influence.  A  negro  race  would  have  filled  those  val- 
leys in  the  earliest  times,  and  they  would  have  been  found 
there  in  great  numbers  when  the  Spaniards  discovered  and 
occupied  the  country.  But  they  were  not  found  there; 
they  have  never  existed  there  as  an  aboriginal  race. 

A   BKIEF   ESSAY   ON   KACES. 

Max  Miiller,  in  his  work  on  the  ancient  Sanskrit  Litera- 
ture, speaks  as  follows :  "  What  authority  would  have  been 
strong  enough  to  convince  the  English  soldier  that  the 
same  blood  was  running  in  his  veins  arid  in  the  veins  of 
the  dark  Bengalese  ?  And  yet  there  is  not  an  English  jury 
nowadays  which,  after  examining  the  hoary  documents 
of  language,  would  reject  the  claim  of  a  common  descent 
and  a  legitimate  relationship  between  Hindu,  Greek,  and 
Teuton." 

This  is  in  a  strain  that  has  been  common  since  the  dis- 
covery of  the  Sanskrit  language ;  it  shows,  however,  that 
in  Mr.  Muller's  mind  hypothesis  had  not  carefully  adjusted 
its  relations  with  fact.  The  claim  of  "  a  common  descent" 
for  Hindu,  Greek,  and  Teuton  might  have  been  well  found- 
ed, or  at  least  not  open  to  serious  criticism,  had  it  been 
urged  four  or  five  thousand  years  ago,  while  the  Sanskrit 
was  still  a  spoken  language,  and  the  Indo- Aryans  were  not 
yet  changed  in  race  by  intermixture  with  the  dark-skinner] 
people  of  India.  It  cannot  now  be  admitted  without  in> 


312  Pre-IIistoric  Nations. 

portant  qualifications.  The  English  soldier  who  rejects  it 
is  more  nearly  right  than  the  scholar  who  believes  "  the 
hoary  documents  of  language"  would  constrain  an  English 
jury  to  uphold  it.  The  scholar  falls  into  mistake  by  at- 
tributing to  the  Hindus  of  our  time  what  was  peculiar  to 
the  unmixed,  Sanskrit-speaking  Aryans  of  a  former  age. 
The  native  inhabitants  of  India  now  present,  in  their  physi- 
ological characteristics,  a  remarkable  mixture  of  races,  in 
which  Aryan  blood  is  not  the  chief  element;  and  this  mani- 
fest mixture  of  unlike  races  extends,  in  some  degree,  even 
to  the  present  dialects  of  India.  In  the  matters  of  com- 
mon blood  and  intimate  ethnic  relationship,  the  people  of 
Hindustan  now  have  more  affinity  with  the  Malays  of  the 
Indian  Archipelago,  and  the  Arabian  people  of  Oman  and 
Yemen,  than  with  the  British  soldier. 

When  we  consider  carefully  the  various  peoples  who  in- 
habit the  earth  and  constitute  the  human  family,  we  can- 
not easily  avoid  the  conclusion  that  great  primal  races 
must  be  recognised,  whose  origin  goes  back  to  the  first 
period  of  human  existence.  It  is  no  part  of  my  purpose  to 
write  a  scientific  essay  on  this  topic,  and  undertake  an 
exact  classification  of  the  many  varieties  of  mankind ;  but 
there  are  physiological  traits  presented  for  consideration, 
so  different  and  so  strongly  marked,  and  families  of  lan- 
guage so  radically  unlike,  that  their  origin  must  have  p re- 
ceded even  the  first  humble  beginnings  of  civilization. 
This  is  so  plain,  and  appears  to  be  so  incontestable,  that 
some  eminent  investigators  have  resorted  to  tne  hypothesis 
that  the  human  race  was  originally  brought  into  existence 
by  the  creation,  in  different  parts  of  the  earth,  of  several 
independent  and  separate  family  groups,  unlike  in  physical 
traits  and  in  the  conditions  that  determined  the  character 


Original  Races  of  Mankind,  313 

of  their  language,  but  essentially  and  ineradicably  the 
same  in  all  the  distinctive  attributes  of  human  nature  it- 
self. This  simplifies  the  question,  and  makes  explanation 
easy ;  but  in  scientific  inquiries  such  simplifications  should 
be  used  with  some  caution,  for  they  do  not  invariably  fur- 
nish the  safest  way  to  just  conclusions.  It  is,  however,  the 
most  reasonable  hypothesis  yet  furnished  by  science,  for  it 
recognises  distinctly  the  "  one  blood,"  or  natural  fraternity 
of  all  the  different  families  of  mankind,  and  it  does  not^ 
like  the  "  development  theory,"  dishonor  human  nature  by 
denying  the  independent  creation  of  man,  and  assigning 
the  origin  of  the  human  family  to  a  "progressive  develop- 
ment" of  lower  orders  of  the  animal  creation. 

When  we  study,  closely  and  reflectively,  typical  repre- 
sentatives of  the  unmixed  Chinese,  Malay,  Negro,  and 
Aryan  or  Indo-European  families,  the  conclusion  seems  in- 
evitable that,  while  they  all  have  the  same  human  nature, 
they  represent  very,  distinct  primordial  races.  If  they  did 
not,  according  to  the  simplest  and  readiest  hypothesis,  pro- 
ceed from  separately  created  family  groups,  they  must 
have  been  completely  separated  and  subjected  to  very  un- 
like conditions  of  existence  previous  to  the  earliest  move- 
ments of  that  development  which  produced  even  the  lowest 
forms  of  civilized  life.  This  is  clearly  implied  not  only  by 
the  unlikeness  of  their  physical  traits,  but  also  by  such 
facts  as  the  profound  difference  between  the  Chinese  and 
the  Aryan  languages.  Whether  science  will  at  length  fur- 
nish a  clearer  explanation,  or,  without  farther  explanation, 
leave  the  matter  to  such  hypotheses  as  it  has  already  sug- 
gested, I  shall  not  undertake  to  say.  It  has  rescued  the 
question  from  the  control  of  myth  and  fable ;  it  makes  us 
Bee  that  certain  venerable  assumptions  have  no  foundation 

O 


314  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

in  truth  and  no  claim  to  respect ;  but  the  origin  of  the  dis- 
tinct races  that  constitute  the  human  family  is  so  covered 
with  the  darkness  of  ages  beyond  the  reach  of  both  history 
and  authentic  tradition,  and  presents  so  much  that  is  now 
entirely  beyond  the  sphere  of  human  experience,  that  sci- 
ence may  never  be  able  to  substitute  demonstration  for  its 
most  reasonable  hypothesis. 

Moreover,  the  problem  has  some  other  difficulties.  For 
instance,  the  physiological  differences  that  separate  the 
primitive  races  are  not  always  coincident  with  radical  dif- 
ferences of  language.  The  families  of  mankind  usually 
classed  as  Aryans,  Cushites,  and  Semites,  with  some  of  the 
peoples  classed  as  Turanians  or  Scyths,  in  their  original, 
unmixed  condition,  are  physiologically  so  much  alike  that 
the  physiologist  cannot  show  why  they  should  not  be 
classed  together  as  one  race.  And  yet  they  are  separated 
by  three  or  four  families  of  language,  so  radically  different 
that  a  common  origin  seems  impossible.  Linguistic  science 
suspects,  and  may  yet  be  able  to  show,  that  the  Cushite 
and  Semitic  tongues  are  related,  and  that  they  may  have 
proceeded  from  the  same  original  source.  But  it  finds  no 
such  relationship  between  the  Semitic  and  the  Aryan  fam- 
ilies, or  between  either  of  these  families  and  the  language 
of  the  Magyars.  Must  the  linguistic  differences  in  these 
cases  be  made  to  signify  original  distinction  of  race  ?  We 
turn  away  from  this  conclusion  to  find  some  other  solution 
of  the  problem ;  we  suggest  that  some  of  these  peoples 
may  have  changed  their  original  speech,  or  that  they  sepa- 
rated from  a  common  stock  while  their  speech  was  yet  un- 
formed, and  developed  language  amid  associations  and 
controlling  influences  that  had  little  or  nothing  in  com- 
mon ;  but  there  can  be  no  such  demonstration  as  wiii  sat- 
isfy any  closp  i 


Races  seldom  found  Pure.  315 

Renan  arid  some  others  have  sought  to  show  that  the 
Semites  have  manifested  a  striking  unlikeness  to  the  Ary- 
an and  Cushite  families  in  their  development  of  religious 
ideas  and  civilization,  but  a  great  deal  more  is  assumed 
than  can  be  shown ;  and  Kenan's  hypothesis  that  the  Sem- 
ites originated  monotheism  is  explicitly  contradicted  by 
what  is  known  of  the  history  of  other  races. 

At  the  present  time,  the  great  primitive  races  of  the  hu- 
man family  are  seldom  found  entirely  pure.  In  the  many 
countries  of  Asia  and  Europe,  where  the  influence  of  civil- 
ization has  been  felt  to  any  extent,  it  is  not  common  to 
find  communities  where  the  blood  of  any  of  these  races  is 
found  unmixed  with  that  of  one  or  more  of  the  others. 
Throughout  Southern  Europe  we  find  a  mixture  of  two  or 
three  of  the  light-colored  races,  in  which  there  is  a  consid- 
erable infusion  of  blood  from  the  dark-skinned  people  of 
Africa.  Mixture  of  races  is  the  rule  throughout  Central 
and  Western  Europe.  Russia  is  a  country  where  peoples 
of  one  or  two  other  races  have  been  added  to  the  aboriginal 
Finnic  element.  The  Russian  language  belongs  to  the 
Aryan  family,  but  in  the  Russian  people  there  is  a  very 
large  infusion  of  blood  which  it  does  not  represent.  In 
Southwestern  Asia,  from  India  to  the  Mediterranean,  the 
Aryan,  Cushite,  and  Semitic  races  have  lost  or  shaded  their 
white  color  in  mixture  with  the  dark-skinned  race  that 
seems  to  have  been  aboriginal  in  India  and  Eastern  Africa. 
It  is  now  scarcely  possible  to  find  anywhere  even  a  small 
community  of  unmixed  Cushites — the  greatest,  most  influ- 
ential, and  probably  the  most  numerous  race  of  remote  an- 
tiquity, whose  home  was  Arabia. 

But  in  no  great  division  of  the  globe  is  the  mixture  of 
races  more  general  or  more  remarkable  than  in  Africa. 


316  Pre-Historw  Nations. 

That  it  exists  in  the  Valley  of  the  Nile,  from  Abyssinia  to 
Egypt,  and  throughout  Northern  Africa,  is  well  under- 
stood. The  fact  that  a  mixture  somewhat  different  in 
character,  and  more  or  less  distinctly  manifest,  prevails 
throughout  the  interior,  has  not  engaged  so  much  attention. 
I  shall  speak  of  it  more  fully  in  another  place,  in  connection 
with  the  many  traces  of  their  influence  left  in  Africa  by 
the  old  Arabian  race. 

Humboldt,  in  his  Cosmos,  speaks  of  "the  distressing  dis- 
tinction of  superior  and  inferior  races."  Certain  dogmatic 
writers  on  this  subject,  whose  doctrines  concerning  "  inferi- 
or and  superior  races"  are  revolting  to  reason  and  unsup- 
ported by  fact,  finding  criticism  and  rebuke  in  these  words 
of  the  eminent  German  whose  science  they  cannot  ques- 
tion, have  sought  to  break  their  force  by  treating  them  as 
an  "  unfortunate"  gush  of  "  sentimentalism."  Humboldt's 
Cosmos,  however,  is  not  a  sentimental  work,  and  nowhere 
in  it  do  we  find  a  sincerer  expression  of  his  thought,  or  a 
more  deliberate  criticism  of  an  offensive  method  of  treat- 
ing a  great  question. 

The  doctrines  relative  to  superior  and  inferior  races,  as 
usually  inculcated,  are  not  the  product  of  serene  science, 
nor  of  any  calm  influence  of  reason.  They  have  sprung 
cither  from  the  arrogant  egotism  of  the  race  that  assumed 
superiority,  or  from  zeal  in  behalf  of  some  institution,  or  of 
some  form  of  social  or  political  organization,  by  which  un- 
developed races  or  humiliated  peoples  are  maltreated  and 
tyrannously  oppressed. 

An  elaborate  and  ingenious  French  work  on  the  "  Ine- 
quality of  Human  Races,"  written  in  the  interest  of  the  re- 
actionary party  in  Europe,  sets  forth  the  doctrine  that  the 
downfall  of  nations  is  effected,  not  by  luxury  and  enerva- 


Gobineau  on  Human  Races.  317 

tion,  not  by  corruption  of  morals  nor  by  any  disastrous  in- 
fluence of  misgovernraent,  but  solely  by  the  intrusion  of  in- 
ferior races  into  the  positions  of  political  influence  that  be- 
long exclusively  to  the  superior  governing  races.  This  in- 
fallibly brings  on  degeneracy  and  ruin,  because  the  blood 
of  the  proper  governing  class  no  longer  flows  in  the  veins 
of  those  who  govern,  or  is  debased  by  mixture  with  inferi- 
or blood.  The  subject  classes,  in  the  nations  of  Europe, 
are  the  inferior  races,  and  the  old  governing  classes  the  su- 
perior races.  They  are  useful  to  each  other  while  each 
keeps  its  proper  place;  but  when  the  lower  orders  rise 
and  a  mixture  of  races  takes  place,  the  dangerous  doctrines 
of  human  brotherhood  and  equality  in  rights  immediately 
appear,  and  the  nation  becomes  degenerate. 

"  With  the  exception  of  what  has  passed  in  our  time," 
says  Count  de  Gobineau,  "  the  idea  of  a  natural,  original, 
and  permanent  inequality  of  races  has  been  the  basis  of 
nearly  all  theories  of  government.  The  system  of  heredi- 
tary castes,  nobilities,  and  aristocracies  has  its  origin  in 
this  idea ;"  but  "  when  a  mixture  of  the  races  takes  place, 
this  idea  is  at  once  disputed,  natural  superiority  is  insulted, 
the  right  of  the  superior  race  to  inherit  dominion  is  denied, 
and  this  dominion  is  stigmatized  as  a  tyrannical  usurpation 
of  power.  The  mixture  of  castes  obscures  inequality,  and 
gives  rise  to  the  political  axiom  that  all  men  are  equal,  and, 
therefore,  entitled  to  the  same  rights.  Indeed,  since  there 
are  no  longer  any  distinct  hereditary  classes,  none  can  just- 
ly claim  superior  merit  and  privileges."  And  "  the  polit- 
ical axiom  that  all  men  are  brothers,  and  therefore  equal, 
which,  like  the  bag  of  jfEolus,  contains  so  many  tempests, 
is  soon  followed  by  the  scientific." 

Whereupon  the  gulf  opens,  and  every  thing  sinks  into 


318  Pre-IIistoric  Nations. 

the  bottomless  pit  of  ruin.  He  means  to  say,  chiefly,  that 
the  governed  people  of  Europe  are  inferior  races,  whose 
claim  to  equality  of  rights  must  be  sternly  denied,  and 
who  must  be  rigidly  excluded  from  any  assumption  of  po- 
litical influence.  It  is  evident  that,  in  his  view,  the  an- 
cient order  of  things,  with  all  that  is  included  in  what  the 
monarchies,  the  aristocracies,  and  the  Church  call  civiliza- 
tion, is  seriously  threatened  by  that  progress  of  republican 
ideas  which  aims  to  make  the  people  supreme  in  the  poli- 
tics, of  Europe.  It  is  wholly  the  result  of  "ethnical  chan- 
ges," which  have  been  "  slower  and  less  considerable"  in 
England  than  in  any  other  European  country,  for  England 
has  preserved  "  to  this  day  the  basis  of  the  social  system 
of  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries,"  while  "in  France 
the  ethnical  elements  are  more  numerous,  and  the  mixtures 
more  varied."  This  degeneracy,  he  thinks,  is  fearfully  man- 
ifest in  Paris, "  whose  population  is  a  motley  compound  of 
all  the  most  varied  ethnical  elements."  Having  no  longer 
any  love  or  respect  for  ancient  traditions,  and  being  pre- 
pared by  the  influence  of  inferior  races,  meaning  the  peo- 
ple, for  "  a  complete  rupture  with  the  past,"  Paris  has  "  hur- 
ried France  into  a  series  of  political  and  social  experiments, 
with  doctrines  the  most  remote  from,  and  the  most  re- 
pulsive to  the  ancient  customs  and  traditional  tendencies 
of  the  realm."  It  seems  expected  that  this  doctrine,  imi- 
tating the  dignity  of  science  and  the  speech  of  philosophy, 
will  shame,  confound,  and  paralyze  the  liberal  tendencies 
of  Europe. 

The  doctrine  of  superior  and  inferior  races,  in  a  different 
form,  has  been  used  to  justify  human  slavery,  and  here 
the  question  is  confined  chiefly  to  the  white  and  the  black 
races.  The  black  race,  it  is  assumed,  is  wholly  incapable 


The  White  and  Black  Races.  319 

of  developing  civilization  in  any  form,  therefore  the  supe- 
rior white  race,  having  a  natural  right  to  be  its  master, 
may  enslave  it,  or  subject  its  existence  to  any  conditions 
of  serfdom  which  the  governing  wisdom  of  the  natural 
master  may  see  fit  to  impose.  It  is  no  part  of  my  purpose 
to  discuss  this  doctrine  at  length.  I  may  observe,  how- 
ever, that  ethnical  speculations  which  aim  to  establish  a 
given  conclusion  are  necessarily  vitiated  by  this  aim,  and 
therefore  cannot  be  trusted ;  and  that  those  who  seek  to 
give  this  ethnical  hypothesis  the  authority  of  science  can- 
not avoid  showing  that  they  proceed  "  with  a  purpose," 
and  never  get  beyond  the  sphere  of  violent  opinions. 

Count  de  Gobineau,  whose  purpose  did  not  require  him  to 
depreciate  the  black  race,  takes  a  very  different  view  of  it. 
He  maintains  that,  in  the  great  civilizations  of  antiquity, 
the  inspiration  of  poetry  and  art  came  from  the  black  race. 
The  white  race  organized  those  civilizations,  and  estab- 
lished their  laws  and  governments ;  but  "  the  source  from 
whence  their  art  issued  was  foreign  to  the  instincts  of  the 
organizing  civilizers ;  it  lay  in  the  blood  of  the  blacks. 
That  universal  power  of  imagination,  which  we  see  envel- 
oping and  penetrating  the  primordial  civilizations,  came 
entirely  from  the  ever-increasing  infusion  of  blood  from  the 
black  race  into  that  of  the  whites."  Again  :  "  The  negro 
possesses,  in  a  high  degree,  the  faculty  of  emotion  from  the 
senses,  without  which  art  is  not  possible."  Once  more : 
"  It  will  be  said  that  I  am  placing  a  beautiful  crown  upon 
the  deformed  head  of  the  negro,  and  doing  him  a  very  great 
honor  by  thus  associating  him  with  the  harmonious  choir 
of  the  Muses.  But  the  honor  is  not  so  great.  I  have  not 
associated  him  with  the  highest,  those  in  whom  reflection 
is  superior  to  passion."  And,  finally, "  Certainly  the  black 


320  Pre-IIistoric  Nations. 

element  is  indispensable  to  the  development  of  artistic  ge- 
nius in  a  race."  [See  De  Gobineau's  work, "  Sur  L'Inegalite 
des  Races  Humaines,"  book  ii.,  chap,  vii.] 

It  will  be  noticed  that  this  view  of  the  black  race  is  dif- 
ferent from  that  used  to  authorize  enslavement  of  the 
blacks ;  but  De  Gobineau,  who  finds  the  influence  of  infe- 
rior races  in  European  liberalism,  did  not  study  the  black 
race  to  excuse  scornful  disregard  of  its  rights,  nor  with 
any  view  to  the  interests  of  slavery.  Those  who  take  a 
different  course  are  not  likely  to  agree  with  him,  nor  to  ac- 
cept any  other  view  save  their  own. 

Shcuild  we  admit  all  that  is  claimed  by  certain  writers 
concerning  superior  and  inferior  races,  it  would  not  follow 
that  we  must  also  accept  the  logic  by  which  they  under- 
take to  show  that  inferiority  has  deprived  the  black  race 
of  all  right  to  any  position  in  the  human  family  above  that 
of  serfdom.  Rights  cannot  properly  be  made  to  depend 
on  a  discrimination  of  this  kind.  In  a  justly-organized 
state,  the  most  imperial  intellect  can  have  no  more  rights 
before  the  law  than  the  humblest.  There  is  a  duty  of  the 
strong  to  the  weak  which  requires  something  very  differ- 
ent from  the  pretensions  of  mastership  and  the  parade  of 
superiority,  and  there  is  some  great  deficiency  in  the  civ- 
ilization of  that  race  or  community  by  which  it  is  not  prop- 
erly recognised.  The  logic  of  superiority  that  sets  aside 
this  duty  would  justify  the  enslavement  of  the  weak,  hum- 
ble, and  unenlightened  classes,  in  every  state  where  they 
exist,  without  regard  to  race,  and  show  that  neither  slavery, 
serfdom,  nor  any  condition  of  abasement  under  the  domina- 
tion of  privileged  classes  should  be  abolished  anywhere. 

But  difference  in  faculty  doe^  not  necessarily  imply  in- 
feriority. We  are  accustomed  to  assume,  without  hesita- 


Each  Race  has  its  special  Gift.  321 

tion,  that  our  race  is  of  course  superior  to  all  other  races 
that  differ  from  it  in  faculty  or  development ;  in  this,  how- 
ever, there  may  be  quite  as  much  egotism  as  reason.  On 
what  grounds  can  we  safely  assume  that  any  race,  no  mat- 
ter how  powerful  it  may  seem  to  be,  comprehends  in  the 
highest  degree  all  the  possibilities  of  human  nature  ?  Prob- 
ably we  shall  find  it  necessary  to  revise  our  conception  of 
wrhat  constitutes  the  superiority  of  a  race.  Wonderful 
force  to  attack,  subdue,  and  sway  other  peoples,  distin- 
guishes the  faculty  of  our  race,  and  this  force  is  celebrated 
in  song  and  romance.  But  is  this  really  the  highest  and 
most  admirable  development  of  human  nature  ?  We  can- 
not reflect  seriously  without  feeling  that  there  is  something 
nobler,  something  more  beautiful,  something  more  richly 
fraught  with  blessing  that  increases  the  possibilities  and 
heightens  the  charm  of  human  existence,  something  that 
must  necessarily  revise  our  ideal  of  what  is  superior  in 
peoples  and  races. 

Reason  requires  us  to  believe  that  each  race  and  each 
distinct  family  of  mankind  has  some  peculiar  gift  of  its 
own,  in  which  it  is  superior  to  others,  and  that  the  All- 
wise  Creator  may  have  designed  that  each  race  and  family 
shall  bring  its  own  peculiar  contribution  to  the  final  com- 
pleteness of  civilization.  A  race  or  family  is  not  neces- 
sarily inferior  to  others  because  it  comes  into  the  history 
of  civilization  latest,  nor  superior  because  it  appears  there 
first.  It  was  not  our  own  proud  Aryan  race  that  created 
the  great  civilizations  of  Arabia,  Chaldea,  and  the  Old 
Monarchy  of  Egypt.  Our  race  was  preceded  in  develop- 
ment by  others,  and  it  was  in  times  quite  modern  that  our 
own  family  of  the  race  took  its  place  among  the  foremost. 
And  yet  our  mission  is  great — greater  than  we  have  been 
O  2 


322  P re- Historic  Nations. 

able  to  comprehend.  The  marvelous  force,  energy,  and 
activity  of  our  particular  family  of  the  Aryan  race  are 
establishing  intercourse  and  the  feeling  of  neighborhood 
between  "  the  ends  of  the  earth."  We  are  bringing  the 
races  and  peoples  of  the  human  family  to  that  condition  of 
mutual  intercourse  and  appreciation  which  will  teach  all 
races  and  families  to  dismiss  the  old  talk  of  "  outside  bar- 
barians," allow  them  to  assume  harmonious  relations,  and 
prepare  them  to  play  connected  parts  in  the  grand  work 
of  realizing  the  full-orbed,  all-comprehending  development 
of  the  whole  united  family  of  man. 

THE    ARABIAN   CUSHITES   IN   AFRICA. 

That  the  ancient  people  of  Arabia  would  pass  over  into 
Africa  nearly  at  the  beginning  of  their  colonizing  move- 
ments is  so  probable  that  we  readily  accept  it  as  true. 
They  could  not  fail  to  do  so.  They  would  move  across 
the  Straits  of  Bab-el-Mandeb,  and  advance  not  only  north- 
ward down  the  Valley  of  the  Nile,  but  also  towards  the 
central  and  southeastern  portions  of  the  continent ;  for 
these  regions  were  attractive  to  enterprise,  and  would 
necessarily  add  greatly  to  the  resources  and  power  of  the 
rising  commercial  people  on  the  Erythraean  Sea. 

The  ancient  Greeks  inform  us  that  what  was  so  proba- 
ble actually  took  place.  They  recorded  the  fact  that  the 
eastern  countries  of  Africa  became  part  of  Ethiopia,  and 
that  they  had  been  so  described  from  time  immemorial. 
This  designation  is  still  used,  somewhat  indefinitely,  to  in- 
dicate regions  in  Eastern  and  Central  Africa,  although  it 
is  no  longer  applied, to  Arabia.  The  old  Sanskrit  books 
furnish  similar  information.  They  tell  us  that  the  people 
of  Cusha-dwipa  passed  over  into  Africa,  took  possession  of 


Cushite  Dialed*  in  Africa.  323 

the  country,  and  established  there  a  subordinate  country 
of  the  Cushites,  which  they  called  the  exterior  Cusha-dwi- 
pa ;  agreeing  with  the  Greeks,  who  say  Ethiopia  included 
both  Asiatic  and  African  territory.  Add  to  this  that  the 
Cushite  race  created  Egypt,  and  carried  their  colonies  and 
civilization  into  every  part  of  Northern  Africa,  and  we  can 
see  that  its  influence  on  this  continent  in  pre-historic 
times  must  have  been  very  extensive. 

We  see  this,  also,  in  the  fact  that  a  majority  of  the  in- 
habitants of  Africa  use  dialects  of  the  old  Cushite  or  Ethi- 
opian languages.  To  this  family  belong  the  Berber  dia- 
lects, spoken  and  written  in  all  the  provinces  of  Northern 
Africa,  as  far  down  as  the  southern  border  of  the  Sahara. 
The  old  Egyptian  tongue,  and  the  languages  used  through- 
out the  Valley  of  the  Nile,  in  Abyssinia,  and  in  Somaulia, 
have  the  same  origin.  It  is  known,  also,  that  not  only  the 
language,  but,  along  with  it,  the  religious  ideas  of  that  im- 
portant people  in  Eastern  Africa  known  as  the  Gallas, 
came  originally  from  the  Arabian  Cushites.  Dr.  Krapf 
states  that  the  Gallas  number  "  six  or  eight  millions."  He 
says  the  word  "  Gallas"  means  "  immigrants,"  and  signifies 
their  recent  migration  towards  Abyssinia  and  the  coast. 
They  call  themselves  "  Orma,"  or  "  Oroma ;"  therefore  Dr. 
Krapf  designates  the  country  they  occupy  as  "  Ormania." 
It  is  very  probable  that  dialects,  derived  from  or  modified 
by  old  forms  of  the  ancient  Cushite  language,  are  used  by 
African  peoples  in  the  central  and  southern  portions  of  the 
continent.  Some  linguistic  scholars  claim  that  the  south- 
ern dialects  belong  to  this  family,  and  I  see  no  reason  to 
doubt  the  correctness  of  their  opinion.  No  form  of  any 
other  language  known  to  civilization,  ancient  or  modern, 
lias  been  found  in  Africa,  save  the  modern  Arabic.  The 


324:  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

prevalence  of  Cushite  dialects  is  incontestable,  and  this 
shows  how  extensively  Africa  was  occupied  by  the  Cush- 
ite race  in  the  great  ages  of  its  power. 

The  people  of  Arabia  have  been  accustomed  to  traverse 
Africa  in  every  direction,  from  ages  of  which  neither  his- 
tory nor  tradition  can  make  any  report.  They  are  found 
everywhere,  east,  west,  north,  and  south ;  usually  as  trad- 
ers, ready  to  deal  in  slaves  or  in  anything  else  that  gives 
a  hope  of  profit,  but  frequently  as  a  part  of  the  settled 
population.  Dr.  Barth  states  that  not  less  than  250,000 
Arabians  were  settled  in  Bornou  when  he  visited  that  king- 
dom, and  that  "  this  Arab  population  appears  to  have  come 
from  the  east  at  a  very  early  period."  In  that  part  of 
Africa  their  policy  is  to  conciliate  the  favor  of  the  Fulans. 
To  other  peoples  the  interior  of  Africa  has  for  ages  been 
an  unknown  region,  a  land  of  mystery,  of  which  nothing 
could  be  told  beyond  some  Arabian  notices  of  its  ge- 
ography. The  only  reasonable  explanation  of  this  exten- 
sive and  long-continued  intercourse  of  the  Arabians  with 
the  interior  countries  of  Africa  is  that  which  assumes  that 
it  was  established  by  the  ancient  Cushite  occupation,  and 
has  never  been  discontinued. 

We  do  not  always  realize  the  whole  significance  of  the 
fact  that  some  of  the  most  highly  civilized  nations  of  re- 
mote antiquity  were  in  Northern  Africa  and  in  the  Valley 
of  the  Nile.  The  Old  Monarchy  of  Egypt,  to  which  belong 
the  grandest  ages  of  that  country,  was  brought  to  a  close 
about  2100  years  before  the  Christian  Era,  after  a  duration 
of  1 800  years.  Meroe,  very  ancient,  though  not  as  old  as 
the  great  Egyptian  monarchy  founded  by  Menes,  was  pre> 
ceded  by  a  much  older  and  greater  kingdom,  described  as 
Barbara,  a  name  still  preserved  in  that  part  of  Africa.  It 


Central  Africa  and  the  Cushites.  325 

is  well  known  that,  "from  the  earliest  times,  Meroe  was 
the  seat  of  a  great  commerce  carried  on  by  caravans  from 
all  parts  of  Northern  Africa."  The  Cushite  Arabians,  who 
created  these  countries,  continued  to  occupy  Africa  down 
to  the  latest  days  of  their  power.  Is  it  reasonable  to  be- 
lieve that  neither  these  Arabians,  nor  the  people  of  the 
Nile  Valley,  explored  Central  Africa  ?  Nothing  is  more 
improbable.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  evident  that  the  an- 
cient Arabians  occupied  the  lake  regions,  and  earned  their 
influence  into  the  central  countries  as  far  west  as  Soudan ; 
and  that  they  were  accustomed  to  communicate  with"  the 
northern  coast  through  the  interior.  Until  lately,  all  we 
knew  of  Central  Africa  came  to  us  through  Arabian  geog- 
raphers. They  could  describe  the  sources  of  the  Nile; 
and  they  told  us  of  the  Mountains  of  the  Moon,  which  the 
moderns  have  not  yet  explored,  nor  even  located  with  cer- 
tainty. 

The  fact  that  ancient  kings  of  Arabia  marched  armies 
through  Africa  to  the  ocean,  and  carried  on  wars  with 
Maghrib  or  Mauretania,  is  not  left  entirely  to  the  historic- 
al traditions  of  Arabia  for  support.  Strabo  says  in  his 
first  book,  "It  was  mentioned  as  a  tradition  among  the 
people  of  Tartessus  that  the  Ethiopians  once  traversed  the 
regions  of  Africa  quite  to  its  western  limits,  and  that  some 
of  them  came  and  settled  at  Tartessus."  This  must  refer 
to  times  long  before  Gades  was  built.  Central  Africa,  fer- 
tile, beautiful,  and,  in  many  respects,  attractive  in  itself, 
abounded  in  ivory,  gold,  and  other  productions  adapted  to 
engage  the  attention  of  a  commercial  people.  If  there 
were  great  navigable  rivers  flowing  from  Soudan  to  the 
Indian  Ocean,  or  if  there  were  great  gulfs  extending  from 
that  ocean  far  into  the  central  regions,  the  ancient  history 


3JG  P  re-Historic  Nations. 

of  Africa  would  have  been  much  more  important.  But  the 
Arabian  Cushites,  occupying  the  great  lake  regions,  and 
controlling  the  central  countries,  would  naturally  commu- 
nicate with  the  coasts  to  any  extent  required  by  the  inter- 
ests of  their  commerce;  and  it  is  no  more  improbable  that 
they  were  from  time  to  time  engaged  in  wars  with  "  Ma- 
ghrib," than  that,  in  more  recent  times,  Muley  Hamed,  em- 
peror of  Morocco,  should  be  engaged  in  wars  with  the 
great  Songhay  Empire,  which  at  one  time  controlled  near- 
ly all  Central  Africa. 

• 

TRACES    OF   AFRICAN   AXCIEXT    HISTORY. 

Modern  exploration  has  shown  clearly  that  the  present 
condition  of  the  great  body  of  the  African  people  is  not 
that  of  normal  barbarism,  but  rather  a  state  of  decline  from 
a  better  knowledge  and  use  of  the  arts  and  appliances  of 
civilized  life.  The  facts  reported  by  modern  travelers  in 
that  part  of  the  globe  require  us  to  believe  that,  in  pre- 
historic times,  some  great  influence  of  civilization  was  felt 
throughout  nearly  the  whole  African  continent  for  many 
ages,  and  that  a  large  portion  of  the  primitive  African 
people  were  raised  by  this  influence  to  some  knowledge  of 
the  ways  of  civilized  life.  Traces  of  this  influence  are  vis- 
ible everywhere;  and,  if  there  were  nothing  to  indicate  its 
origin,  we  could  hardly  fail  to  Bee  that  it  must  have  come 
from  Arabia. 

Arts  and  methods  of  civilized  life  are  common  through- 
out Central,  Southern,  and  Eastern  Africa,  that  cannot  be 
accounted  for  by  anything  in  the  present  condition  of  the 
people.  The  art  of  smelting  ores  and  working  metals  is 
not  an  accomplishment  of  savage  life.  It  did  not  originate 
among  barbarians.  And  yet  this  art  is  in  common  use  in 


Iron-working  in  Africa.  327 

almost  every  part  of  Africa.  Dr.  Livingstone,  giving  an 
account  of  what  he  found  in  the  regions  near  Lake  Nyassa, 
makes  this  statement :  "  At  every  third  or  fourth  village 
we  saw  a  kiln-looking  structure,  about  six  feet  high,  and 
two  and  a  half  and  three  feet  in  diameter.  It  is  a  clay, 
fire-hardened  furnace  for  smelting  iron.  No  flux  is  used, 
whether  the  specular  iron,  the  yellow  hematite,  or  magnet- 
ic iron  ore  is  fused,  and  yet  capital  metal  is  produced. 
Native  manufactured  iron  is  so  good  that  the  natives  de- 
clare English  iron  '  rotten'  in  comparison ;  and  specimens 
of  African  hoes  were  pronounced  at  Birmingham  to  be 
nearly  equal  to  the  best  Swedish  iron."  The  method  here 
described  is  almost  precisely  like  that  used  in  Southern  In- 
dia. Dr.  Barth  makes  similar  reports  of  the  prevalence  of 
this  art  in  Central  Africa.  He  describes  similar  smelting 
furnaces  found  in  Soudan,  where  they  are  common ;  and 
those  travelers  who  have  explored  the  sources  of  the  Nile 
tell  us  that  blacksmiths,  workers  of  metals,  and  remarkable 
skill  in  other  manufactures,  whose  origin  implies  civiliza- 
tion, are  common  in  that  region. 

Dr.  Livingstone,  in  the  account  of  his  "Expedition  to  the 
Zambezi"  already  cited,  describes  articles  manufactured 
by  the  African  people,  and  specifies  "  hammers,  tongs,  hoes, 
adzes,  fish-hooks,  needles,  and  spear-heads,  having  what  is 
termed '  dish'  on  both  sides,  to  give  them  the  rotary  motion 
of  rifle-balls."  He  admires  their  skill  in  spinning  and  weav- 
ing, and  in  manufacturing  certain  kinds  of  pottery  similar 
to  pottery  found  in  India.  He  points  out  that  they  have 
admirably-made  fish-nets  "  nearly  identical  with  those  now 
used  in  Normandy ;"  a  blacksmith's  bellows  like  that  used 
in  Central  India;  "fish-baskets  and  weirs  like  those  used 
in  the  Highlands  of  Scotland ;"  and  other  implements  like 


328  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

those  found  in  Egypt  and  India.  He  is  sure  that  this 
striking  similarity  of  manufactured  articles  in  widely-sep- 
arated countries — articles  "  from  identical  patterns  widely 
spread  over  the  globe" — makes  it  very  probable  that  the 
arts  and  usages  of  these  different  peoples  were  derived  from 
the  same  source.  Not  seeing  any  other  explanation,  he 
suggests  that  they  may  have  been  given  by  direct  revela- 
tion from  God.  This  hypothesis  is  reverent,  but  the  very 
interesting  fact  to  which  he  calls  attention  can  be  explained 
without  resort  to  miracle.  The  original  instructor  in  these 
arts  was  the  ancient  Cushite  civilization,  which  went  into 
Africa  from  the  east  and  the  north,  and  was  felt  for  a  very 
long  period  of  time  in  all  its  central  countries. 

No  less  important  are  the  facts  relating  to  the  social  and 
political  condition  of  Central  Africa,  reported  by  Dr.  Earth 
and  other  explorers.  Throughout  that  extensive  central 
region  called  Soudan  there  is  very  effective  political  or- 
ganization, an  active  trade,  and,  in  some  districts,  a  remark- 
able condition  of  manufacturing  industry.  Ile'rc,  in  many 
places,  Dr.  Barth  found  the  manufacture  of  cotton  and  grass 
clothes,  very  fine  leather-work,  and  the  working  of  metals, 
carried  on  very  skilfully,  and  to  a  notable  extent.  These 
manufactures  find  markets  not  only  throughout  Central 
Africa,  buti  also  in  the  cities  on  the  Mediterranean.  He 
gives  a  particular  description  of  the  city  of  Kano,  which, 
at  the  time  of  his  visit,  was  a  flourishing  manufacturing 
and  commercial  emporium,  controlled  by  that  branch  of 
the  brown  African  race  known  as  Fulbe,  Fulans,  and  Fel- 
latahs.  A  remarkable  condition  of  industrial  enterprise 
was  noticed  not  only  in  the  city,  but  throughout  the  whole 
district. 

Dr.  Barth  describes  important  kingdoms  in  Central  Af- 


Central  Africa  has  Written  Histories.        329 

rica  whose  history  can  be  traced  back  nearly  to  the  begin, 
ning  of  the  Christian  Era,  and  which  are  doubtless  much 
older.  These  kingdoms  have  had  considerable  civilization, 
that  is  shown  to  have  been  greater  in  ancient  times  than 
it  is  at  present.  In  Ghasr-eggomo,  anciently  the  capital  of 
Bornou,  but  now  a  mass  of  ruins,  the  principal  buildings 
were  made  of  brick ;  but "  in  the  present  capital  not  the 
smallest  approach  is  made  to  this  more  solid  mode  of  ar- 
chitecture." Dr.  Barth  adds : 

"  It  cannot  be  doubted  that  the  old  capital  contained  a 
great  deal  of  barbaric  magnificence,  and  even  a  certain  de- 
gree of  civilization,  much  more  than  is  at  present  found  in 
this  country.  It  is  certainly  a  spectacle  not  devoid  of  in- 
terest to  imagine,  in  this  town  of  Negroland,  a  splendid 
court,  with  a  considerable  number  of  learned  and  intelli- 
gent men  gathering  around  their  sovereign,  and  a  priest 
writing  down  the  glorious  achievements  of  his  master." 

Written  chronicles  of  Bornou,  and  of  some  of  the  other 
kingdoms,  still  exist,  although  the  Fulans  have  sought  to 
<k>s:  roy  them.  Dr.  Barth  says :  "  Books  containing  a  com- 
prehensive history  of  the  kingdom  of  Katsena  have  been 
destroyed  intentionally  by  the  Fulbe  or  Fulans  since  their 
conquest  of  the  country.  One  tradition  connects  the  origin 
of  the  kingdom  of  Bornou  with  the  Himyarite  kings  of  Ara- 
bia. Other  traditions  say  it  was  founded  by  white  Ber- 
bers, which,  of  course,  means  that  it  was  created  by  influ- 
ences proceeding  from  the  old  Cushite  or  Phoenician  com- 
munities of  Northern  Africa.  The  records  state  that  Sel- 
ma,  the  first  black  or  dark-colored  monarch  of  Bornou,  began 
his  reign  in  the  year  1194  A.D.,  many  centuries  (no  record 
tells  certainly  how  many)  after  the  kingdom  was  founded. 

That  the  central  countries  of  Africa  were  occupied  or 


330  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

controlled  in  ancient  times  by  a  civilized  white  race  is 
shown  by  the  physiological  peculiarities  of  the  present  in- 
habitants. The  people  of  those  countries  present  every- 
where a  remarkable  mixture  of  races.  The  blood  of  the 
original  brown  race,  with  its  fine  forms,  long  curling  hair, 
and  dark  olive  complexion,  predominates  in  this  mixture, 
and  sometimes  it  is  found  nearly  pure.  It  is,  however, 
common  to  find  it  mixed  with  that  of  both  the  white  and 
the  negro  races.  I  am  not  speaking  of  the  Berbers,  the  na- 
tive Egyptians,  the  Nubians,  the  Abyssinians,  nor  even  of 
the  Gallas.  I  refer  only  to  that  great  body  of  the  native 
population  of  Africa  represented  by  the  Fulans  and  the 
Bechuanas.  All  these  people  show  traits  of  a  common  ori- 
gin. They  are  divided  into  classes  or  nationalities,  and 
called  by  different  names,  although  the  difference  between 
them  is  less  than  is  often  created  among  people  of  the  same 
ethnic  family  by  time  and  circumstances.  The  Abyssin- 
ians,  Egyptians,  and  Berbers  are  white  men  mixed  with  the 
brown  race  of  Africa.  The  Fulans,  Bornese,  and  Bechu- 
anas are  this  brown  race,  more  or  less  mixed  with  the  oth- 
er races. 

Traces  of  white  blood  in  the  African  people,  more  or 
less  distinct,  are  found  everywhere,  away  from  the  "West- 
ern Coast.  They  have  been  noticed  by  all  travelers, 
though  not  always  clearly  explained.  Dr.  Barth,  being  at 
a  village  in  Adamwa,  wrote  thus  of  this  mixture  of  races : 
"I  was  struck  by  the  symmetry  and  beauty  of  their  forms, 
and  the  regularity  of  their  features ;  but  I  was  still  more 
astonished  at  their  complexion,  which  was  different  in  dif- 
ferent individuals,  it  being  in  some  a  glossy  black,  and  in 
others  a  light  copper."  He  adds,  "  The  same  variety  has 
been  observed  in  many  other  tribes,  as  well  on  this  conti- 
nent as  in  Asia," 


Mixture  of  Races  in  Africa.  331 

Dr.  Livingstone's  attention  has  been  drawn  to  the  same 
physiological  peculiarity  in  the  people  farther  south,  where 
not  only  mixture  with  the  black  race  is  apparent,  but  also 
striking  traits  that  must  have  been  inherited  from  a  white 
race.  He  points  out  carefully  that  the  true  type  of  the 
African  people  "  is  not  that  found  on  the  West  Coast,  from 
which  most  people  have  derived  their  ideas  of  the  Afri- 
can," and,  in  his  descriptions  of  the  brown  race,  shows  us 
traces  of  the  mixture  of  races  so  manifest  in  other  parts 
of  the  continent.  Speaking  of  Chinsamba,  ruling  chief  of 
the  Manganjas,  he  says :  "  He  has  a  Jewish  cast  of  face,  or 
rather  the  ancient  Assyrian  face,  as  seen  in  the  monu- 
ments brought  home  by  Mr.  Layard.  This  face  is  very 
common  in  this  country.  The  majority  of  the  heads  here 
are  as  well  shaped  as  those  depicted  in  the  ancient  As- 
syrian and  Egyptian  monuments." 

The  same  variety  of  complexion,  with  other  physical 
characteristics  denoting  mixture,  is  described  by  those 
who  have  visited  the  lake  regions  near  the  sources  of  the 
Nile.  For  instance,  Mr.  Burton  says  of  the  Wagogo: 
"  Many  of  them  are  as  fair  as  Abyssinians ;  some  of  them 
are  as  black  as  negroes;"  and  he  describes  the  Watosi  as 
"tall,  comely,  and  comparatively  fair."  The  ruling  and 
aristocratic  class  in  the  countries  near  these  lakes,  called 
"the  Wahuma,"  greatly  resemble  the  Abyssinians,  although 
some  of  them  have  a  darker  color;  and  there  is  no  reason 
to  doubt  that  the  Wahuma,  like  the  Abyssinians  and  the 
Gallas,  represent  the  ancient  Cushite  Arabians,  mixed  in  a 
greater  or  lesser  degree  with  the  dark-colored  people  of 
Africa.  The •  Wahuma  have  a  tradition  that  Africa  former- 
ly belonged  to  white  men,  and  they  claim  to  represent  the 
blood  of  these  ancient  white  rulers  of  the  land. 


332  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

At  the  present  time,  the  most  numerous  and  powerful 
people  in  Central  Africa,  south  of  the  region  occupied  by 
the  Berbers,  are  the  Fulans,  a  people  remarkable  there  for 
their  intelligence,  skill,  and  restless  ambition.  Their  influ- 
ence is  already  established  at  many  of  the  more  important 
points,  from  Senegambia  to  the  Nile,  near  the  western  bor- 
der of  Abyssinia,  and  especially  in  Soudan.  They  seem 
likely  to  become  supreme  in  all  the  central  countries. 
Every  traveler  in  that  part  of  Africa  describes  the  Fulans, 
and  speculates  vainly  concerning  their  history.  They  re- 
semble, substantially,  the  great  body  of  the  brown  race  of 
the  continent,  and  show  the  same  traces  of  mixture  with 
other  races.  Dr.  Barth  says  of  them : 

"  If  any  African  tribe  deserves  the  full  attention  of  the 
learned  European,  it  is  that  of  the  Fulbe  (sing.  Pullo),  or 
Fula,  as  they  are  called  by  the  Mandingoes ;  "Fellani  (sing. 
Bafellanchi)  by  the  Hausa  people,  Fellata  by  the  Kanuri, 
and  Fulan  by  the  Arabs.  No  doubt  they  are  the  most  in- 
telligent of  all  the  [Central]  African  tribes,  although  in 
bodily  development  they  cannot  be  said  to  exhibit  the 
most  perfect  specimens.  It  is  their  superior  intelligence 
that  gives  their  chief  expression  to  the  Fulbe.  But  as  to 
their  outward  appearance,  which  presents  various  con- 
trasts in  complexion  as  well  as  bodily  development,  we 
must  first  take  into  account  that  the  Fulbe,  as  a  conquer- 
ing tribe,  sweeping  over  a  wide  expanse  of  provinces, 
have  absorbed  and  incorporated  with  themselves  different 
and  quite  distinct  national  elements." 

The  Fulans,  on  account  of  their  prominence  and  impor- 
tance, have  been  a  topic  of  much  speculation.  One  or 
two  writers  have  assumed  that  they  were  not  originally 
an  African  people.  M.  Eichwaldt  published  an  essay  in 


Origin  of  the  Fulans.  333 

the  Journal  de  la,  Societe  Ethnologique  for  1841,  in  which 
he  sought,  by  cleverly  managed  assumption  and  hypothe- 
sis, to  connect  them  with  the  Malays  by  way  of  Meroe. 
Dr.  Barth  says :  "  I  myself  am  of  opinion  that  their  origin 
is  to  be  sought  in  the  direction  of  the  east ;  but  this  refers 
to  an  age  which,  for  us,  is  enveloped  in  impenetrable  dark- 
ness. *  *  There  may  be  some  remote  affinity  between 
the  Fulbe  and  the  South  African  tribes,  but  this  refers  to 
an  age  probably  not  later  than  the  rule  of  the  Pharaohs." 
The  Fulans,  nevertheless,  are  only  a  branch  of  the  race 
found  everywhere  in  Central,  Eastern,  and  Southern  Africa. 
Whatever  shall  explain  their  origin  will  explain  that  of 
the  whole  race. 

Within  the  historical  period,  and  since  the  beginning  of 
the  Christian  Era,  there  has  been  more  civilization  in 
Africa  than  exists  at  the  present  time.  Dr.  Barth  shows 
that  Bornou,  in  Central  Africa,  has  declined  from  a  higher 
condition  of  civilization.  The  ruins  of  its  former  capital, 
its  historical  literature,  and  other  facts  still  apparent  to 
those  who  observe  that  country  carefully,  make  plain,  that 
not  many  centuries  have  passed  since  there  was  in  Bornou 
a  higher  knowledge  and  practice  of  the  builder's  art,  a 
more  effective  political  organization,  considerable  literary 
culture,  and  a  better  condition  of  manufactures  and  com- 
merce. That  old  tradition  of  the  people  which  connects 
the  origin  of  this  kingdom  with  the  Himyarite  sovereigns 
of  Arabia,  whether  correct  or  incorrect,  is  not  without  sig- 
nificance. There  is  much  in  the  histoiy  of  Arabia,  as  well 
as  in  the  present  condition  of  Africa,  to  show  that  the 
Cushite  Arabians  occupied  Central  Africa  in  very  remote 
times. 

There  is  a  great  difference  between  the  present  condi- 


334  P re-Historic  Nations. 

tion  of  Eastern  Africa  and  that  in  which  it  was  found  by 
the  first  Europeans  who  visited  the  Indian  Ocean.  Vas- 
quez  di  Gama  wrote  an  account  of  his  first  voyage,  but  the 
manuscript  was  lost,  probably  in  a  dust-hole  of  some  old 
library.  One  or  two  narratives  of  the  voyage,  written  by 
other  persons,  have  been  printed.  We  know  that  the  Por- 
tuguese found  in  that  part  of  Africa  two  important  king- 
doms, Quiloa  and  Monomotapa,  which  excited  their  admi- 
ration and  their  covetousness ;  and  also  that  there  was  con- 
stant commercial  intercourse  between  that  coast  and  India. 
When  Di  Gama  arrived  at  Mozambique  in  1498,  he  found 
there  cities  not  inferior  to  those  of  Portugal.  A  narrative 
of  the  voyage  says  of  Melinda,  one  of  these  cities :  "  The 
city  was  large,  with  handsome  streets,  and  houses  built 
of  stone,  several  stories  high,  with  terraces  on  the  top." 
In  the  ports  of  all  these  cities  he  found  "  many  ships"  quite 
equal  to  his  own ;  and  the  officers  in  charge  of  these  ships 
used  the  mariner's  compass,  the  astrolabe,  and  other  nauti- 
cal and  astronomical  instruments.  Here,  as  everywhere 
else  in  that  part  of  the  Indian  Seas,  the  Arabians  were 
foremost  in  commercial  enterprise. 

That  African  civilization  has  disappeared ;  those  cities 
and  kingdoms  no  longer  exist.  The  superior  military  ap- 
pliances of  the  Portuguese  enabled  them  to  occupy  that 
region,  and  this  Portuguese  occupation  has  brought  to  the 
country  nothing  but  debasement  and  ruin.  In  place  of  the 
flourishing  communities  and  active  commerce  found  there 
in  1498,  we  have  only  barbarism  and  semi-barbarism,  man- 
aged in  a  characteristic  way  by  Portuguese  brutality. 


An  old  African  Civilization.  335 

NORTHERN   AFRICA   IN   PRE-HISTORIC   TIMES. 

Enlightened  states  and  cities  existed  in  Northern  Africa 
long  previous  to  the  beginning  of  history.  Many  consid- 
erations make  it  evident  that  the  origin  of  these  civilized 
communities  must  be  referred  to  a  very  remote  period  in 
the  past.  A  very  ancient  and  influential  civilization  in 
Northwestern  Africa  and  Spain  is  plainly  signified  by  the 
old  myths  and  legends  concerning  Atlas  and  the  Atlanti- 
des.  It  must  have  been  established  there  in  the  first  ages 
of  Cushite  maritime  enterprise  on  the  Mediterranean,  if  not 
earlier;  and  its  beginnings  must  have  been  very  ancient 
— so  ancient  as  to  be  mythical  at  the  commencement  of  the 
Tyrian  period.  Its  chronological  relation  to  the  building 
of  Gades  and  the  rise  of  Carthaginian  supremacy  must 
have  been  nearly  the  same  as  that  of  the  Old  Monarchy  of 
Egypt  to  the  building  of  Alexandria  and  the  Egypt  of  the 
Ptolemies.* 

The  city  of  Carthage,  which,  in  the  days  of  its  highest 
power  and  prosperity,  controlled  most  of  Northern  Africa 
and  Spain,  must  have  contained  more  than  a  million  inhab- 
itants. It  numbered  over  700,000  when  destroyed  by  the 
Romans.  The  malignant  hate  of  these  conquerors  and  de- 
stroyers, seeking  to  exterminate  every  vestige  of  Car- 
thaginian power,  civilization,  and  even  history,  destroyed 
all  the  books  and  manuscripts  of  the  country,  except  an 
elaborate  treatise  of  Mago  on  Agriculture  and  Botany, 

*  Sallust  (Jugurtha,  cap.  18),  deriving  his  information  from  "Punic 
sources,"  tells  us  that,  according  to  the  traditions  of  the  African  people, 
Hercules  died  in  Spain,  and  that  after  his  death  his  followers  settled  in 
Northern  Africa.  Hercules,  or  more  properly  Melcarth,  belongs  to  very 
ancient  times. 


336  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

which  they  translated  into  Latin  and  appropriated  to  them- 
selves. So  we  are  informed  by  Pliny. 

Carthage  was  the  latest  development  of  the  Cushite  race 
in  Northern  Africa,  but  it  was  not  the  greatest.  In  earlier 
times,  that  region,  from  Egypt  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  had 
been  still  more  important,  and  evidently  more  populous. 
Previous  to  the  beginning  of  Tyrian  supremacy,  Northern 
Africa  and  Spain  were  old  in  civilization.  During  the 
Tyrian  period,  Northern  Africa  was  full  of  cities  and  alive 
with  the  busy  movements  of  commerce  and  agriculture. 
It  continued  to  be  one  of  the  most  attractive  of  civilized 
countries  down  to  the  time  of  the  Mahometan  invasion. 
Tacitus,  writing  of  Germany,  its  rude  people,  and  ungenial 
climate,  exclaimed  "  Quis,  Asia  aut  Africa  aut  Italia  re- 
licta,  Germaniam  peteret!" — who  would  relinquish  Asia, 
Africa,  or  Italy  for  Germany !  Roman  ruins,  now  found 
in  the  interior,  show  us  how  attractive  that  African  coun- 
try was  to  the  Romans,  even  in  its  decline. 

The  old  cities  and  civilization  of  Northern  Africa  came 
from  the  people  known  to  us  as  Phoenicians,  and  some  of 
their  settlements  in  that  region  must  have  been  much  older 
than  the  time  when  Martu,  or  Marathos,  was  the  ruling 
city.  Those  old  myths,  common  to  Romans,  Greeks,  and 
Phoenicians,  are  destitute  of  significance  if  some  of  the 
Cushite  communities  in  that  country,  and  especially  in 
Northwestern  Africa,  were  not  many  ages  older  than  those 
on  the  Black  Sea.  » 

The  country  is  still  covered  with  ruins,  although  every 
trace  of  some  of  the  more  ancient  cities  has  undoubtedly 
disappeared.  An  interesting  account  of  some  of  these 
ruins  can  be  found  in  the  work  of  Mr.  N.  Davis  on  "  The 
Ruined  Cities  of  Africa/'  His  explorations,  however,  Avere 


Moroco.  in  ancient  Times.  337 

confined  to  the  districts  immediately  connected  with  Car- 
thage ;  but  he  refers  to  other  ruins  not  yet  described  nor 
even  visited.  The  old  city  of  Moroco,  or  Maghrib,  was  a 
ruin  in  the  time  of  Leo  Africanus.  He  speaks  of  it  as  "  the 
great  and  famous  city  of  Maroco,"  describes  it  as  "  a  huge 
and  mighty  city,"  anciently  remarkable  for  its  magnificent 
temples  and  schools  of  learning,  and  says  "  it  had  four-and- 
twenty  gates,  and  a  wall  of  great  strength  and  thickness." 
Describing  one  of  the  great  temples,  he  makes  this  state- 
ment: "Under  the  porch  of  this  temple,  in  the  olden  time, 
it  is  said,  there  were  nearly  an  hundred  booksellers'  shops, 
and  as  many  on  the  other  side ;  but  at  the  present  time  I 
think  there  is  not  one  bookseller  in  the  whole  city,  and 
scarcely  a  third  part  of  the  city  is  now  inhabited." 

The  Romans  were  succeeded  in  Africa  by  the  Goths, 
who  were  followed  by  the  Mahometan  Arabs.  The  intol- 
erant and  fierce  Mahometans  waged  war  against  the  re- 
maining influences  of  the  Phoenician  civilization,  and,  to  a 
large  extent,  drove  the  old  inhabitants  from  the  coast. 
Leo  Africanus  tells  us  that  "  they  burnt  all  the  African 
books,  for  they  were  of  opinion  that  the  Africans,  so  long 
as  they  had  any  knowledge  of  natural  philosophy,  or  of 
any  other  good  arts  and  sciences,  would  every  day  more 
and  more  contemn  the  law  of  Mahomet."  But  the  old 
culture  was  not  all  destroyed  immediately ;  "  the  Moors" 
of  Spain  are  famed  for  their  learning  and  elegant  culture ; 
and  some  of  the  African  cities,  under  Mahometan  sway, 
were  for  a  long  time  equally  eminent.  All  this,  however, 
disappeared  finally,  and  down  to  our  own  time  Northern 
Africa  was  closed  against  Europe  by  the  inappeasable  hos- 
tility of  Mahometan  fanaticism. 

P 


338  Pre-Historic  Nations. 


THE    BERBERS. 

All  that  now  remains  of  the  old  Phoenician  communities 
in  Northern  Africa  is  found  in  the  people  called  Berbers, 
who  are  spread  throughout  the  inland  portions  of  the  coun- 
try from  Egypt  to  the  Atlantic.  The  origin  of  the  Ber- 
bers appears  in  what  we  know  of  their  history,  as  well  as 
in  their  language,  which  belongs  to  the  Ethiopia  or  Cushite 
family,  being  genetically  related  to  the  ancient  speech  of 
Arabia,  and  to  the  modern  dialects  used  in  Abyssinia  and 
Somaulia.  Those  who  assume  that  the  Phoenicians  were 
never  anything  more  than  a  few  communities  of  manufac- 
turers and  merchants,  occupying  a  little  district  on  the 
eastern  shore  of  the  Mediterranean,  are  necessarily  unable 
to  comprehend  this  fact,  and  they  are  no  more  able  to  ex- 
plain the  vast  extent  of  the  colonial  and  commercial  sys- 
tem of  that  people. 

The  assumption  has  no  warrant.  In  ancient  times  that 
system  was  supported  by  Arabia,  and  not  merely  by  the 
little  district  known  as  Phoenicia.  The  name  and  tradi- 
tions of  the  country  show  us  that  the  Cushite  colonizers 
of  Northern  Africa  came  from  the  Upper  Nile  valley  as 
well  as  from  Phoenicia  and  the  Arabian  peninsula.  It  is 
probable  that  the  earliest  civilized  communities  on  the 
Mediterranean,  away  from  its  eastern  shores,  were  in  North- 
ern Africa,  and  that  these  communities  played  a  great  part 
in  human  aifairs,  of  which  there  is  no  record,  although  it  is 
dimly  visible  in  the  mythologies  and  cosmogonic  legends 
of  the  ancient  world  from  Rome  to  India. 

Leo  Africanus,  in  the  first  book  of  his  work  on  Africa, 
states  that  the  people  of  North  Africa,  in  his  time,  all  used 
one  language,  although  divided  into  many  tribes  and  fam- 


Leo's  Account  of  the  Berbers.  339 

ilies.  He  says  the  Mahometan  Arabs  called  their  speech 
"  barbarous,"  and  adds  that,  in  his  view,  it  was  "  the  true 
and  natural  speech  of  the  Africans,"  although  some  would 
infer  from  its  character  that  the  Northern  Africans  or  Ber- 
bers "  came  by  lineal  descent  from  the  Sabeans,  a  people 
of  Arabia  Felix."  The  genetic  relation  of  the  Berber  lan- 
guage to  that  of  the  Himyaric  or  Cushite  Arabians  seems 
to  have  been  noticed  distinctly  by  the  Mahometan  invad- 
ers, whose  speech  was  the  Arabic  of  theHedjaz. 

In  Leo's  time  the  Berber  language  was  universal  in  Mo- 
roco,  and  in  all  the  North  African  countries,  excepting 
that  "  over  against  Tunis  and  Tripoli"  the  Arabic  of  the 
invading  Mahometans  was  "  spoken  very  corruptly."  He 
says  the  Berbers  called  their  language  "Aquel  Amarig, 
the  noble  tongue."  In  his  opinion,  the  Berbers  or  Africans 
anciently  "  had  an  alphabet  peculiar  to  themselves,"  which 
had  given  place  to  the  Arabic  letters  used  by  their  in- 
vaders ;  and  they  had  histories,  which  were  destroyed  and 
forgotten.  The  Cushite  origin  of  the  Berbers  is  shown 
in  his  account  of  their  ancient  religion.  He  savs:  "These 

O  J 

Africans  had  in  times  past  magnificent  and  stately  tem- 
ples, dedicated  to  the  sun  and  to  fire ;"  and  they  wor- 
shipped the  planets,  offering  prayers  and  sacrifices.  Leo 
had  no  clear  comprehension  of  the  origin  of  "  these  Afri- 
cans," but  his  account  of  their  language  and  religion  shows 
it  very  plainly. 

Neither  ethnology  nor  linguistic  science  has  yet  given 
such  attention  to  the  Berbers  as  their  historical  importance 
deserves,  although  we  have  a  better  knowledge  of  them 
than  was  possible  when  Leo  wrote  on  Africa.  They  are 
found  as  far  south  as  the  southern  border  of  the  Sahara, 
and  they  seem  to  have  been  connected  with  some  of  the 


34:0  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

important  political  movements  of  Central  Africa.  The 
Berbers,  it  is  said,  established  the  old  kingdom  ofBornou, 
and  also  founded  the  city  of  Timbuctu.  They  undoubted- 
ly controlled  the  kingdom  ofBornou  for  a  long  time  pre- 
vious to  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth  century.  But  the 
land  of  the  Berbers  is  Northern  Africa,  between  Egypt 
and  the  Atlantic,  excepting  the  districts  immediately  on 
the  coast-line.  They  have  towns,  cities,  agricultural  dis- 
tricts, political  organization,  and  many  of  the  arts  of  civ- 
ilized life.  They  generally  read  and  write,  and  have 
schools  and  books.  Nearly  all  the  tribes  now  use  the 
Arabic  alphabet ;  but  the  Touaricks  of  the  Sahara — the 
purest,  proudest,  most  numerous,  and  most  lordly  family 
of  the  Berbers — have  an  alphabet  of  their  own,  for  which 
they  claim  great  antiquity,  and  they  have  also  consider- 
able native  literature. 

We  have  some  account  of  the  Berbers  from  travelers 
who  have  partially  explored  Northern  Africa;  and  since 
the  French  took  possession  of  Algeria,  a  few  scholarly 
French  officers  employed  in  that  country,  such  as  MM. 
Hanoteau  and  Boissonnet,  have  given  some  attention  to 
this  remarkable  people.  In  the  Journal  Asiatique  for  May, 
1847,  M.  Boissonnet  gave  an  interesting  account  of  the 
Touarick  or  "  Tifinag"  alphabet,  writh  an  impression  of  the 
characters,  showring  it  to  be  nearly  identical  with  that 
used  by  the  Phoenicians  in  later  times.  The  characters 
were  printed  in  a  comparative  table,  with  the  Hebrew  let- 
ters and  those  of  the  Libyan  inscriptions.  Their  identity 
with  the  Phoenician  alphabet  is  too  manifest  to  be  ques- 
tioned. That  Journal  called  attention  to  their  close  re- 
semblance to  the  characters  of  certain  ancient  Libyan 
inscriptions,  particularly  those  of  the  bilingual  stone  of 


Account  of  the  Touaricks.  341 

Thugga.  There  is  no  room  to  doubt  that  this  alphabet  of 
the  Touaricks  is  substantially  the  same  that  was  used  by 
the  old  Phoenician  or  Cushite  communities  throughout 
Northern  Africa.  Captain  Hanoteau  promised  to  furnish 
for  publication  a  volume  of  selections  from  the  Touarick 
literature,  with  a  French  translation. 

We  have  some  accounts  of  the  Touaricks,  and  of  other 
Berber  communities,  in  the  volumes  of  modern  travelers. 
In  the  months  between  August,  1845,  and  April,  1846,  Mr. 
James  Richardson  visited  Ghadames,  Ghat,  Mourzouk, 
Sockna,  and  Misratah.  He  met  the  Touaricks  first  at 
Ghadames,  where  a  large  "company  of  them  had  arrived  for 
traffic.  Writing  in  his  journal  while  in  that  city,  he 
said :  "  This  afternoon  I  had  a  visit  from  Touarick  women, 
and  was  astonished  to  find  some  of  them  almost  fair.  It 
is  evident  that  the  men  are  dark  simply  from  exposure  to 
the  sun."  An  Arab  merchant  expressed  to  him  the  com- 
mon estimate  of  the  Touaricks  by  saying,  "  The  maharee 
[desert  camel]  always  assumes  the  mastery  over  the  coast 
camel,  just  as  the  Touarick  assumes  to  be  lord  over  the 
Arab."  In  the  Sahara,  which  is  much  less  a  desert  than 
fancy  has  sometimes  portrayed,  the  Touaricks  have  towns, 
cities,  and  an  excellent  condition  of  agriculture.  They  are 
very  skillful  in  the  cultivation  of  fruit.  Their  method  of 
political  organization  is  democratic,  somewhat  after  the 
fashion  of  the  old  Cushite  municipalities.  Mr.  Richardson 
says :  "  Ghat,  like  all  the  Touarick  countries,  is  a  republic ; 
all  the  people  govern."  And,  "  The  woman  of  the  Toua- 
ricks is  not  the  woman  of  the  Moors  and  Mussulmans  gen- 
erally. She  has  here  great  liberty,  walks  about  unveiled, 
and  takes  an  active  part  in  the  affairs  and  transactions  of 
life." 


342  Pre-Historic  Nations, 

In  a  letter  published  in  the  Journal  Asiatique  for  August, 
1845,  M.  Boissonnet  stated  that  a  native  traveler  told  him 
that  "  the  Touaricks  are  very  white,  go  always  clothed,  and 
wear  pantaloons  like  Europeans."  This  reminds  us  of  the 
description  given  in  the  13th  century  by  Ebn-ed-din  El 
Eghwaati,  in  his  "  Notes  of  a  Journey :"  "  The  Touaricks 
are  a  very  powerful  people,  of  very  white  complexion ; 
they  wear  pantaloons  like  Christians." 

Captain  G.  F.  Ly on,  whose  volume  was  published  in  1821, 
met  a  company  of  Touaricks  at  Mourzouk,  and  spoke  of 
them  as  follows :  "  They  are  the  finest  race  of  men  I  ever 
saw ;  tall,  straight,  and  handsome,  with  a  certain  air  of  in- 
dependence and  pride  that  is  very  imposing.  They  arc 
generally  white,  that  is  to  say,  comparatively  so,  the  dark 
brown  of  their  complexion  being  occasioned  only  by  the 
heat  of  the  climate.  Their  arms  and  bodies,  where  con- 
stantly covered,  arc  as  white  as  those  of  many  Europeans." 
He  gives  the  following  account  of  a  community  of  white 
Berbers  in  Fezzan :  "  The  inhabitants  of  Zuela  are  nearly 
all  white,  and  they  are  particularly  careful  about  intermar- 
riages with  Arabs.  They  are  certainly  the  most  respect- 
able, hospitable,  and  quiet  people  in  Fezzan ;  and  their 
whole  appearance  (for  they  are  handsome  and  very  neatly 
dressed)  bespeaks  something  superior." 

Rev.  H.  B.  Tristam,  whose  book,  entitled  "  "Wanderings 
South  of  the  Atlas  Mountains,"  appeared  at  London  in  1 860, 
describes  the  Kabyles,  the  M'Zabs,  the  Wareglans,  and  the 
inhabitants  of  the  Wed  R'hir  chain  of  oases,  who  are  all 
Berbers,  and  use  Berber  dialects.  The  M'Zabs  have  a  re- 
public or  confederacy  consisting  of  seven  cities  and  dis- 
tricts. Ghardai'a,  the  capital,  has  13,000  inhabitants.  This 
city  is  very  old,  for  the  ruins  of  a  still  more  ancient  city 


Berber  Books  and  Manuscripts.  343 

are  connected  with  it.  Beni-Isguen,  another  of  these  cities, 
has  10,000  inhabitants,  and  not  far  from  it  are  the  ruins  of 
its  still  more  ancient  predecessor.  At  Berryan  these  M'Zab 
Berbers  told  Mr.  Tristam  that  "  their  nation  came  hither 
from  Moroco,  to  which  place  their  ancestors  immigrated 
from  Egypt  or  South  of  Egypt ;  but  their  imauns  knew  all 
their  story,  and  it  is  written  in  their  sacred  books,  which 
are  preserved  in  manuscripts  at  Ghardaia." 

Being  at  Guerrara,  another  of  these  seven  cities,  Mr. 
Tristam  writes:  "The  Guerrarans  really  understand  and 
apply  the  arch,  a  proof  certainly  of  more  than  modern  Arab 
civilization.  In  many  places  the  resemblance  to  Egyptian 
architecture  is  interesting,  especially  when  combined  with 
the  similarity  in  shape  of  their  vessels,  jars,  and  household 
utensils  to  those  of  ancient  Egypt."  Speaking  of  his  de- 
parture from  the  city  of  Beni-Isguen,  he  says  :  "  When  we 
were  about  to  depart,  the  djemmaa  requested  our  names 
and  addresses,  as  they  have  a  register  containing  all  the 
events  of  the  city,  and  a  record  of  its  visitors  for  nine  hun- 
dred years.  The  book  was  produced." 

The  M'Zabs  are  not  the  only  Berbers  who  have  books 
and  manuscripts.  It  is  probable  that  all,  or  nearly  all,  the 
tribes  have  annals  and  other  literary  records  like  those  pre- 
served at  Ghardaia,  for  they  all  read  and  write.  The  Tou- 
aricks  appear  to  be  the  most  cultivated  branch  of  the  fam- 
ily ;  their  literature  has  attracted  the  attention  of  French 
officers  in  Africa.  When  it  can  be  explored  carefully,  im- 
portant historical  records  may  be  discovered,  although  it 
is  nowise  likely  that  much  relating  to  their  ancient  history 
has  been  preserved. 

The  Berbers,  their  language,  and  their  books  ought  to 
bo  fully  explored  and  studied.  Archeology  and  linguistic 


Pre-Historic  Nations. 

science  have  lavished  enthusiastic  and  toilsome  study  on 
subjects  much  less  worthy  of  attention,  for  these  Berbers 
present  the  remains  of  a  great  civilization  much  older  than 
Rome  or  Hellas,  and  of  one  of  the  most  important  peoples 
of  antiquity.  Here  are  "  ruins"  more  promising,  and,  in 
certain  respects,  more  important  than  the  buried  rums  of 
Nineveh;  but  they  have  failed  to  get  proper  attention, 
partly  because  a  false  chronology  has  made  it  impossible 
to  see  their  meaning  and  comprehend  their  importance. 
The  Berbers  represent  ancient  communities  whose  import- 
ance was  beginning  to  decline  before  Rome  appeared,  and 
which  were  probably  contemporary  with  ancient  Chaldea 
and  the  Old  Monarchy  of  Egypt.  Some  of  them,  I  repeat 
it,  may  have  been  established  by  the  Arabian  Cushites  be- 
fore Menes  united  Upper  and  Lower  Egypt  under  one  gov- 
ernment. 

Additional  suggestions  relative  to  the  earliest  civilized 
communities  in  Northwestern  Africa  will  become  necessary 
in  what  I  have  to  say  of  Western  Europe  in  pre-historic 
times,  for  there  seems  to  have  been  a  period  in  the  remote 
past  when  these  regions  were  intimately  connected.  Mean- 
while it  must,  I  think,  be  admitted  that  the  civilized  com- 
munities, established  so  extensively  in  Africa  by  the  Ara- 
bian Cushites  in  the  pre-historic  ages,  occupied,  controlled, 
or  influenced  to  a  large  extent  nearly  the  whole  continent. 
The  Cushite  origin  of  these  communities  would  be  con- 
clusively manifest  in  the  dialects  they'left  in  Africa,  if  there 
were  nothing  else  to  show  it ;  and  their  influence  explains 
what  we  see  in  the  present  condition  of  the  African  people, 
which  is  so  unlike  that  of  normal  barbarism,  and  in  which 
there  are  so  many  traces  of  former  acquaintance  with  civ- 
ilization. 


The  old  Cushite  Settlements.  345 


NAVIGATION   AROUND   AFEICA. 

We  have  good  reasons  for  believing  not  only  that  the 
Arabian  Cushites  in  the  early  times,  but  also  the  Phoeni- 
cians during  the  Tyrian  period,  were  familiar  with  every 
part  of  the  coast  of  Africa.  The  old  Cushite  settlements 
were  extended  far  down  the  eastern  coast,  nearly  to  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope ;  and,  so  late  as  1498  AD.,  when  the 
Portuguese  first  sailed  to  India,  there  were  important  cities 
as  low  down  as  the  Mozambique  Channel,  in  the  latitude 
of  Madagascar.  We  have  the  testimony  of  antiquity  that 
the  Tyrians  had  "ancient  settlements"  on  the  Atlantic 
coast  of  Africa, "  which  consisted  of  not  less  than  three 
hundred  cities."  It  is  added  that  they  "  were  destroyed 
by  the  Pharusii  and  the  Nigritae."  Strabo  doubted  be- 
cause he  could  not  appreciate  either  the  greatness  or  the 
antiquity  of  the  people  called  Phoenicians.  He  frequently 
doubted  incontestable  facts  because  his  limited  view  of  the 
world  did  not  enable  him  to  understand  them,  as  in  the 
case  of  Pytheas  and  his  voyage  to  the  arctic  regions.  In 
the  present  case,  his  hesitating  doubt  itself  confirms  the 
testimony  which  he  was  not  quite  able  to  reject. 

The  Cushites,  or  Phoenicians,  so  placed  on  the  Eastern 
and  Western  Coasts,  could  not  have  failed  to  sail  around 
Africa,  and  become  familiar  with  the  coast  of  Guinea,  in 
the  days  of  their  greatest  enterprise.  The  contrary  sup- 
position is  every  way  improbable.  Could  we  have  a  com- 
plete history  of  the  Phoenicians  and  Southern  Arabians 
from  the  twentieth  to  the  middle  of  the  ninth  century  be- 
fore the  Christian  Era,  it  would  probably  appear  that  their 
navigation  was  more  extensive  than  any  of  the  moderns 
have  supposed.  The  knowledge  that  Africa  could  be  cir- 

P2 


3-i6  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

cumnavigated,  so  prevalent  in  countries  connected  with 
the  Eastern  Mediterranean  at  the  beginning  of  the  sixth 
century  before  the  Christian  Era,  must  have  come  from 
recollections  and  traditions  of  the  navigation  of  the  Phoe- 
nicians and  Southern  Arabians  in  the  earlier  ages. 

About  the  year  600  B.C.,  Necho  II.,  an  enterprising  king 
of  Egypt,  fitted  out  an  expedition,  which  he  ordered  to  sail 
down  the  Red  Sea,  go  around  Africa,  and  return  to  Egypt 
through  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar.  He  knew  very  well  that 
such  a  voyage  was  possible.  The  same  knowledge  existed 
among  the  Persians,  when  Sataspes,  one  of  ttie  Achoemeni- 
da?,  guilty  of  a  great  crime,  was  offered  escape  from  capital 
punishment  if  he  would  sail  around  Africa  in  the  opposite 
direction,  but  lacked  resolution  to  complete  the  voyage. 
Herodotus,  who  gives  a  particular  account  of  the  success- 
ful expedition  sent  out  by  Necho,  adds  that  the  Cartha- 
ginians knew  that  Africa  was  surrounded  by  the  ocean,  and 
could  therefore  be  circumnavigated.  The  Carthaginians 
sent  forth  several  expeditions,  to  renew,  along  the  African 
coast,  the  old  navigation  and  commerce  of  the  Phoenicians ; 
and  there  seem  to  have  been  several  Hannos  by  whom 
such  expeditions  were  commanded.  We  have  the  "  Peri- 
plus"  of  one,  who  made  an  extensive  voyage  along  the 
coast,  sailing  from  the  west.  Pliny  mentions  another  Han- 
no,  who  sailed  from  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar  to  Arabia,  and 
wrote  an  account  of  his  voyage  in  a  "  Commentary."  Po- 
sidonius  and  others  give  accounts  of  the  voyages  of  Eu- 
doxus  of  Cyzicus,  "  a  learned  man,  much  interested  in  the 
peculiarities  of  different  countries."  It  is  stated  that  he 
had  great  enthusiasm  for  exploring  the  coast  of  Africa  on 
the  exterior  ocean,  and  that  he  found  on  the  Eastern  Coast, 
between  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  and  Arabia,  remains  of 


Old  Maps  of  South  Africa.  347 

the  wreck  of  a  ship  from  Gades.  Strabo  doubts  what  is 
said  of  Eudoxus,  but  it  is  not,  for  this  reason,  to  be  dis- 
credited. 

Phoenician  commerce  at  the  East  was  interrupted,  and 
the  independence  of  the  great  Phoenician  cities  on  the  East- 
ern Mediterranean  was  destroyed,  in  the  ninth  century  be- 
fore Christ,  by  those  Assyrian  invasions  that  reduced  to 
subjection  all  the  countries  in  that  region.  In  the  latter 
part  of  that  century  there  was  a  great  migration  of  Phoeni- 
cians from  the  Eastern  Mediterranean,  and  especially  from 
Tyre,  to  Carthage.  Phoenician  navigation  around  Africa 
was  discontinued.  The  Carthaginian  efforts  to  renew  it 
were  made  three  or  four  centuries  later.  It  had  been  dis- 
continued more  than  two  centuries  when  the  voyage  or- 
dered by  Necho  was  undertaken ;  but  it  was  remembered, 
as  we  can  see  in  the  general  knowledge  that  such  naviga- 
tion was  possible ;  and  the  wreck  of  a  ship  from  Gades  on 
the  eastern  coast  of  Africa  shows  that  voyages  around  Af- 
rica had  formerly  been  made  from  the  west  as  well  as  from 
the  east. 

It  is  known  that  the  Arabians  had  an  accurate  knowl- 
edge of  the  configuration  of  the  southern  and  southwest- 
ern part  of  the  African  continent,  and  that,  through  knowl- 
edge derived  from  them,  this  portion  of  the  coast  of  Africa 
was  accurately  drawn  on  maps  before  the  time  of  Bar- 
tholomew Diaz  and  Vasquez  di  Gama,  and  then  what  we 
call  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  was  described  as  "  Cape 
Diab"  [or  Dsiab  in  Arabic].*  It  seems  also  to  have  been 

*  Long-temps  avant  Bartholome  Diaz  et  Vasco  de  Gama,  nous  voyons 
1'extremite  triangulaire  de  1'Afrique,  represented  dans  le  planisphere  de 
Sanuto,  de  1306,  annexe'  au  Seer  eta  jiddium  Crucis,  et  public'  par  Bon- 
gars;  dans  le  Portulano  delta  Mediceo  Laurenziana,  de  1351,  ouvrage 


348  Pre-IIiistoriti  Nations. 

called  "  Cape  Agisymba,"  if  we  may  believe  Ferdinand  Co 
lumbus,  who  said  the  name  Cape  of  Good  Hope  "  was  sub> 
stituted  for  the  older  name  Cape  Ayesingua"  which  is  a, 
corruption  of  the  word  Agisymba,  as  Ilumboldt  shows. 
Ten  years  previous  to  the  voyage  of  Vasquez  di  Gama, 
Pedreio  de  Covilhan,  who  had  visited  Calicut,  Goa,  and 
Sofala,  in  Southeastern  Africa,  wrote  from  Sofala  to  John  L, 
king  of  Portugal,  that  he  had  learned  from  the  Arabians 
that  Africa  could  be  circumnavigated;  and  he  described 
the  course  by  which  Portuguese  ships  could  sail  round 
Africa  to  Sofala  and  Madagascar. 

llev.  Dr.  Krapf,  and  one  or  two  German  scholars  of 
reputation,  have  supposed  that  the  "  Ophir"  of  the  Hebrew 
Scriptures  may  have  been  011  the  eastern  coast ;  but  this 
does  not  seem  probable.  Max  Milller  is  sure  that  it  must 
have  been  somewhere  in  India,  because  he  thinks  the 
names  of  gold,  ivory,  and  the  other  articles  brought  from 
Ophir  by  the  ships  of  Hiram  and  Solomon  were  Sanskrit ; 
but  his  attempt  to  show  this  is  not  satisfactory.  More- 
over, if  we  are  to  seek  Ophir  in  India,  it  will  be  much 
more  natural  and  reasonable  to  suppose  the  names  of  the 
articles  of  commerce  "mentioned  came  from  the  old  lan- 

ge'nois,  que  le  Comte  Baldelli  a  fait  connaitre ;  dans  le  Planisferio  de  la 
Palatina,  de  Florence,  de  1417,  discute  par  le  Cardinal  Zurla;  et  surtout 
dans  le  fameuse  mappemonde  de  Fra  Mauro,  trace'e  dans  les  annees  1457 
et  1459.  C'est  cette  derniere  carte  surtout,  anterieure  de  quarante  ans 
a  la  circumnavigation  de  Vasco  de  Gama,  qui  offre,  avec  la  plus  grande 
clartc',  le  promontoire  de  I'Afrique  australe  sous  le  nom  de  Capo  di  Jjiab. 
[Humboldt's  Examen  Critique  de  1'IIistoire  de  la  Gtographie  du  Nouveau 
Continent,  etc.,  vol.  i.]  Near  the  close  of  the  same  volume  he  pointed 
out  that  the  later  opinions  of  antiquity  relative  to  the  circumnavigation 
of  Africa  were  much  more  incorrect  than  those  of  preceding  ages  :  "  Chez 
les  anciens  les  opinions  rdcentes  sont  souvent  moins  justes  que  plusieurs 
de  celles  qui  les  avaient  prece'dees." 


Where  Ophir  was  situated.  349 

guage  of  the  country,  and  not  from  the  Sanskrit.  Could 
it  really  be  shown  beyond  question  that  these  words  are 
actually  found  in  the  Sanskrit  language,  it  would  be  neces- 
sary to  show,  also,  that  their  relation  to  it  is  not  like  that 
of  the  word  "  camel"  to  English,  and  "  camelus"  to  Latin 
— words  which,  as  we  know,  came  into  Latin  and  English 
from  the  old  Arabian  name  of  the  animal  they  are  used  to 
designate.  Mr.  Miiller  says,  very  justly,  that  the  names  of 
the  articles  brought  from  Ophir  are  as  foreign  to  Hebrew 
as  gutta-percha  and  tobacco  are  to  English ;  but  this  does 
not  make  them  Sanskrit.  It  is  more  reasonable  to  assume 
that  they  came  either  from  some  native  dialect  of  the 
country  where  they  were  found,  or  from  the  language  of 
the  navigators  and  traders  who  made  them  articles  of 
commerce. 

The  word  "Ophir,"  as  used  in  the  Hebrew  Scriptures, 
means  "  the  West,"  and  is  the  same  as  the  words  Aphar, 
Apar,  and  Aupir.  "Wilford  says  very  justly,  in  the  8th 
volume  of  the  "Asiatic  Researches:"  "In  Scripture,  Par- 
vaim  and  Ophir  mean  countries  at  the  east  and  at  the  west ; 
but  these  terms  are  not  deducible  from  the  Hebrew.  Apar 
and  Aparica  are  the  same  as  Ophir,  Aphar,  and  Africa." 
Bishop  Lowth  pointed  out  that  Ophir,  Aupir,  and  Auphir 
were  all  different  forms  of  the  same  word,  from  which  he 
derived  the  name  Africa.  It  is  the  same  word  that  was 
used,  in  ancient  times,  to  describe  Mauretania,  Spain,  and 
other  countries  on  the  "Western  Mediterranean,  as  "  the 
"West."  Therefore,  when  it  is  said  that  the  ships  of  Hiram 
and  Solomon  went  to  Ophir,  the  meaning  is  that  they  went 
to  the  countries  of  "  the  "West ;"  and,  probably,  all  the 
countries  beyond  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  were  so  de- 
scribed. The  Ophir  visited  may  have  been  the  region  on 
the  coast  of  Guinea,  where  gold  and  ivory  were  nb:mdant ; 


350  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

and  in  making  these  voyages,  the  ships  went  not  only 
down  the  Red  Sea,  but  also  through  the  Straits  of  Gibral- 
tar, and  down  the  Western  Coast,  This  appears  to  be  the 
meaning  of  the  following  statement:  "The  king's  [Solo- 
mon's] ships  went  to  Tarshish  with  the  servants  of  Hurain : 
every  three  years  once  came  the  ships  of  Tarshish,  bring- 
ing gold  and  silver,  ivory,  apes,  and  peacocks,"  or  perhaps 
"  Guinea  fowl"  [2  Chron.  ix.,  21].  That  is  to  say,  the  ships 
went  to  Tarshish  or  Tartessus,  on  the  coast  of  Spain,  and 
sailed  for  Ophir  from  that  place,  as  well  as  from  Ezion- 
geber,  on  the  Red  Sea. 

This  location  of  Ophir  seems  to  me  more  probable  than 
any  other  that  has  been  suggested.  To  seek  it  in  India, 
or  anywhere  else  at  the  East,  when  its  name  tells  us  that  it 
was  connected  with  "  the  West,"  is  not  the  most  reasona^ 
ble  method  of  inquiry,  and  does  not  take  proper  account 
of  the  fact  that,  according  to  the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  it 
could  be  reached  from  Tartessus,  in  Spain,  quite  as  easily 
as  from  Ezion-geber  on  the  Red  Sea.  If  the  great  extent 
of  Phoenician  navigation  had  always  been  recognised,  there 
would  have  been  less  doubt,  and  that  part  of  the  African 
coast,  near  Liberia,  to  which  gold  and  ivory  have  given 
their  names,  must  have  been  accepted  as  the  Ophir  of  Sol- 
omon and  the  Tyrians.  At  any  rate,  the  old  Arabian  race, 
that  occupied  the  central  countries  of  Africa  so  extensive- 
ly, and  established  settlements  so  far  down  both  the  East- 
ern and  the  Western  Coast,  must  have  been  familiar  with 
every  coast  district  of  the  country  that  produced  anything 
to  attract  commerce,  and  must  have  been  accustomed,  in 
the  great  ages  of  their  power,  to  make  voyages  to  the  Gold 
Coast  from  ports  at  the  West,  both  on  the  Atlantic  and 
within  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar,  as  well  as  from  the  Red  Sea 
and  Southern  Arabia. 


IX. 

WESTERN  EUROPE  IN  PRE-HISTORIC  TIMES. 

OUR  histories  of  Western  Europe  begin  with  what  the 
Romans  tell' us  of  the  occupation  of  Spain  by  the  Cartha- 
ginians, and  of  their  own  occupation  of  the  Keltic  coun- 
tries. The  historians  generally  can  see  nothing  beyond 
this.  What  the  Romans  have  not  described  or  reported 
is  not  deemed  worthy  of  serious  attention,  and  minds  con- 
trolled by  Roman  and  Greek  authority  have  found  it  easy 
to  slide  into  a  belief  that  the  people  of  Western  Europe 
generally  were  never,  at  any  time,  much  above  the  condi- 
tion of  barbarians  before  they  were  brought  under  the  in- 
fluence of  Roman  civilization. 

It  is  a  pleasant  thing,  no  doubt,  to  have  reputation  for 
critical  discrimination,  but  it  is  well  to  take  some  account 
of  the  fact  that  ambition  to  establish  such  a  reputation 
sometimes  paralyzes  the  faculty  of  perception.  It  is  more 
honorable  to  see  wisely  what  is  presented  for  observation, 
than  to  believe  there  can  be  anything  worthy  to  be  called 
sound  judgment  in  refusing  to  see  it.  Even  in  the  Ro- 
man accounts  of  the  Keltic  countries  of  Western  Europe, 
it  is  manifest  that  they  had  an  old  civilization  when  the 
Romans  went  there.  Julius  Caesar  tells  us  that  they  had 
the  art  of  writing,  and  that  they  used  what  he  called  "  the 
Greek  letters."  Their  cities,  their  arts  and  manufactures, 
their  knowledge  of  metallurgy,  and  their  habits  of  life,  in- 
dicate their  condition.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  Ro- 


352  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

mans  did  not  describe  them  more  carefully,  study  their  lit- 
erature, and  tell  us  all  that  could  then  have  been  learned 
concerning  their  history.  But  they  were  not  accustomed 
to  deal  justly,  in  this  respect,  by  the  peoples  they  conquer- 
ed. Major  Wilford,  expressing  in  the  "  Asiatic  Research- 
es" his  opinion  that  the  historical  records  of  India  had  been 
destroyed  by  the  Brahmans,  added :  "  In  this  manner  the 
Romans  destroyed  the  books  of  Numa,  consigned  to  de- 
struction the  historical  books  of  the  Etruscans,  and,  I  sus- 
pect, those  also  of  the  Turdetani  in  Spain."  He  might 
have  added  a  reference  to  their  treatment  of  the  Cartha- 
ginian books. 

AN  ANCIENT   CIVILIZATION   IN  WESTERN   EUROPE. 

It  may  well  be  doubted  whether  the  Kelts  were  much 
inferior  to  the  Romans  in  anything  save  unity  and  milita- 
ry organization  at  the  time  of  the  Roman  invasion.  Strabo 
makes-  special  mention  of  the  culture  and  intelligence  of 
the  Turdetani,  in  Southern  Spain,  who  had  beautiful  cities, 
possessed  great  wealth,  "  used  silver  goblets  and  casks," 
were  "  polished  and  urbane  in  their  manners,"  and  showed 
remarkable  elegance  and  refinement  in  their  manner  of  life. 

o 

Polybius  states  that  in  the  time  of  the  second  Punic  War 
the  Romans  discarded  the  swords  they  had  been  accus- 
tomed to  use  for  such  as  were  in  use  among  the  Iberians, 
which  were  superior  to  the  Roman  weapon.  Ireland,  then 
and  afterwards,  was  held  in  great  repute  for  its  culture 
and  its  schools  of  learning.  Mosheim  states  that  in  «.he 
ninth  century  its  culture  was  unequaled  by  any  other  in 
Europe.  Tacitus  tells  us  that  in  his  time  it  was  widely 
known  through  its  commerce,  which  attracted  the  mer- 
chants of  other  countries. 


Cushite  Antiquity  at  the  West.  353 

An  important  and  very  ancient  civilization  in  Western 
Europe  is  brought  to  light  by  the  revelations  of  geology, 
in  what  they  show  us  of  the  "  Ages  of  Bronze  and  of  Pol- 
ished Stone,"  whose  unquestionable  testimony  supports 
that  of  the  old  myths  and  traditions  of  the  Greeks. 

In  the  historical  and  mythical  literature  of  Greece  there 
is  mention  of  two  distinct  and  widely  separated  periods  of 
civilization  in  Spain  and  Northwestern  Africa,  or  in  the 
regions  near  the  Pillars  of  Hercules. 

1.  The  oldest  of  these  periods  was  entirely  mythical.  It 
is  indicated  by  the  myths  concerning  Hercules  and  the 
Cronidae,  by  the  representations  that  Hyperion,  Atlas,  Sat- 
urn, and  other  great  personages  of  mythology  were  kings 
who  reigned  over  countries  on  the  western  shores  of  the 
Mediterranean,  and  by  the  accounts  given  of  the  island  of 
Atlantis.  The  legends  that  connect  Hercules  with  North- 
western Africa,  Spain,  and  other  regions  at  the  West,  evi- 
dently refer  to  the  most  ancient  times.  They  may  repre- 
sent the  first  occupation  of  those  countries  by  the  Arabian 
Cushites,  in  ages  older  than  Egypt,  when  the  first  great 
cities  of  that  race  appeared  on  the  Mediterranean.  The 
story  of  the  Atlantic  Island  which  came  from  Egypt  was 
believed  by  Solon  and  Plato.  Solon,  it  is  said,  knowing 
that  the  Egyptians  had  records  of  very  ancient  times, 
sought  to  get  an  account  of  them  from  the  priests  at  Sais. 
They  assured  him  that  the  Greeks  had  no  knowledge  of 
antiquity,  and  knew  nothing  of  what  had  happened  an- 
ciently in  their  own  country;  and  then  they  gave  him  a 
history  of  the  ancient  times  from  their  own  annals.  He 
brought  this  history  to  Greece  in  manuscript  notes,  intend- 
ing to  make  some  important  use  of  it,  which  circumstances, 
however,  prevented.  Plato  produced  some  particulars  of 


354:  Pre-IIistoric  Nations. 

it  in  his  "  Timsous"  and  "  Critias"  by  giving  the  story  of 
the  "Atlantic  Island."  In  the  remotest  age  mentioned  iu 
the  Egyptian  annals,  there  was,  in  the  Atlantic  Sea,  over 
against  the  Pillars  of  Hercules,  "  an  island  larger  than 
Libya  and  Asia  put  together."  The  people  of  this  island, 
who  had  great  wealth  and  an  admirable  condition  of  civil- 
ized life,  "  extended  their  empire  to  all  the  country  as  far 
as  Egypt  and  Tyrrhenia;"  and  once  "a  mighty,  warlike 
power,  rushing  from  the  Atlantic  Sea,  spread  itself  with 
hostile  fury  over  Europe  and  Asia."  It  is  added  that  the 
Atlantic  Island  afterwards  sunk  in  the  sea,  which,  in  con- 
sequence, was  no  longer  navigable.  Other  legends  tell  us 
of  kings  who  reigned  in  Spain  and  Northern  Africa. 
There  is  but  one  reasonable  explanation.  These  legends 
presefVe  the  recollection  of  a  great  and  enterprising  peo- 
ple who  in  very  remote  times  occupied  those  Western 
countries,  and  had  communication  with  America.  The  At- 
lantic Island  must  mean  America,  and  its  disappearance  in 
the  ocean  must  mean  the  discontinuance  of  communication 
with  it. 

2.  The  second  period  presented  in  the  Greek  records  is 
more  historical.  It  is  the  period  when,  after  Tyre  rose  to 
supremacy,  the  Phoenicians  reoccupied  Spain  and  North- 
western Africa,  and  established  an  extensive  commerce 
with  Western  Europe,  going  to  Britain  for  tin,  and  to  the 
Northwestern  countries  for  amber.  To  this  period  belongs 
the  building  of  Gades ;  and  it  has  been  usual  to  assume 
that  it  shows  us  the  first  appearance  of  the  Phoenician  race 
in  those  regions,  although  this  assumption  is  contrary  to 
both  fact  and  tradition.  Strabo  seems  to  have  entertained 
it,  for  he  says  in  his  third  book :  "  I  repeat  that  the  Phoe- 
nicians were  the  discoverers  [of  Mauretania,  the  Fortunate 


Ireland  colonized  from  Africa.  355 

Islands,  and  Spain],  for  they  possessed  the  better  part  of 
Iberia  and  Libya  before  the  time  of  Homer."  This  de- 
scribes the  second  period  of  which  I  am  speaking;  but  it 
does  not  say  that  civilization  in  those  countries  was  not 
older  than  the  time  of  the  Tyrians.  In  fact,  Strabo  himself 
shows  that  it  was  older,  in  what  he  says  of  Tartessus  in 
connection  with  Geryon  and  Hercules,  and  in  his  represen- 
tation that  the  Tyrians  went  forth  to  find  and  reoccupy 
the  most  western  countries  reached  by  Hercules.  Nothing 
tells  us  how  early  the  Tyrians  began  to  assume  possession 
of  Spain ;  but  they  were  probably  established  there,  and  in 
Mauretania,  before  the  city  of  Gades  was  built. 

The  first  settlements  of  the  Arabian  Cushites  in  Spain 
and  Northern  Africa  cannot  have  been  later  than  5000 
years  before  the  Christian  Era.  The  Egyptian  date  con- 
nected with  the  story  of  the  Atlantic  Island  makes  the 
time  much  earlier.  Menes  was  about  4000  years  older  than 
t}ie  birth  of  Christ,  and  his  time  cannot  be  as  old  as  that 
indicated  by  the  myths  concerning  the-  expedition  of  Her- 
cules in  the  West.  Spain  and  Northwestern  Africa  must 
have  been  independent  countries  before  his  time,  if  the 
myths  have  any  significance  whatever.  According  to  the 
Irish  records,  the  oldest  people  mentioned  in  Ireland,  the 
Formorians,  came  from  Africa ;  and  it  is  said  that  they  had 
powerful  fleets,  and  were  distinguished  for  maritime  enter- 
prise. Probably  the  Cushite  race,  religion,  and  civilization 
first  went  to  the  ancient  Finnic  people  of  Britain,  Gaul, 
and  the  Scandinavian  countries  from  Spain  and  Africa. 
The  beginning  of  the  Bronze  Age  in  these  countries  was 
much  older  than  the  period  of  Tyre.  The  Tyrian  estab- 
lishments in  those  Western  countries  seem  to  have  been 
later  than  the  Aryan  immigration  that  created  the  Keltic 


35 C  Pre-HistoriG  Nations. 

peoples  and  languages ;  and  it  may  be  that  the  Tyrians  in- 
troduced the  "Age  of  Iron"  not  long  after  their  arrival,  for 
it  was  evidently  much  older  than  the  time  of  the  Romans. 

I  have  alluded  to  the  ancient  myths  and  mythological 
legends  which  indicate  the  existence  of  civilized  and  im- 
portant countries  at  the  West,  near  the  Pillars  of  Hercules, 
in  the  deepest -antiquity.  They  certainly  mean  this  if  they 
mean  any  thing ;  and  nothing  seems  to  me  more  prepos- 
terous than  to  assume  that  they  are  entirely  destitute  of 
significance. 

The  rationalism  of  Euhemerus  could  not  be  popular  in  a 
community  where  Socrates  was  put  to  death  on  suspicion 
that  he  cherished  scientific  tendencies  hostile  to  the  blind 
assumptions  of  the  prevalent  religion ;  nevertheless,  that 
rationalism  proceeded  from  truth  and  reason.  The  wisest 
persons  among  the  ancients  understood  that  most  of  the 
gods  in  their  mythology  were  deified  men.  Diodorus  Sicu- 
lus  and  others  point  out  that  the  ancients  held  two  opin- 
ions concerning  the  gods ;  some  saying  they  were  always 
heavenly  and  incorruptible,  and  others  that  they  were  orig- 
inally of  earthly  origin,  being  deified  men  who  were  wor- 
shipped as  forms  or  representations  of  the  Supreme  Being. 
It  is  easy  to  imagine  the  mental  characteristics  of  the  dis- 
putants on  each  side  of  this  question.  A  clear  intellect, 
where  reason  was  not  overborne  by  the  feeling  of  wonder 
or  the  tendency  to  illusion,  could  not  very  easily  see  an 
original,  self-existent  divinity  in  a  deified  hero  or  sage. 
Men  like  Euhemerus  could  understand  why  great  kings, 
heroes,  and  sages  had  been  deified  and  worshipped  after 
death  ;  but  no  pious  worship  of  the  gods  of  Olympus,  nor 
any  classical  consecration  of  this  worship,  could  hide  from 
them  the  fact  that  Saturn  and  Jupiter  were  originally  kings 


Mythical  History  of  the  West.  357 

who  reigned  over  countries  on  the  Western  Mediterranean 
in  the  oldest  times  known  to  tradition.  Even  the  classical 
dictionaries  tell  -us  that "  Saturn  was  a  mythical  king  of 
Italy." 

One  account  of  these  personages  runs  as  follows :  Hy- 
perion, Atlas,  and  Saturn  or  Cronos,  were  sons  of  Uranos, 
who  reigned  over  a  great  kingdom  composed  of  countries 
around  the  western  part  of  the  Mediterranean,  with  certain 
islands  in  the  Atlantic.  Hyperion  succeeded  his  father, 
but  was  killed  by  the  Titans.  The  kingdom  was  then  di- 
vided between  Atlas  and  Saturn,  Atlas  taking  Northern 
Africa,  with  the  Atlantic  Islands,  and  Saturn  the  countries 
on  the  opposite  shore  to  Italy  and  Sicily.  Plato's  account 
of  the  legend  says:  The  Atlantes  (successors  of  Atlas) 
reigned  over  the  island  of  Atlantis,  and  also,  on  one  side, 
over  all  the  countries  of  Northern  Africa  to  Egypt ;  and, 
on  the  other,  all  the  way  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  limits  of 
Tyrrh&iia.  This  version  of  the  story,  which  came  from 
Egypt,  makes  Saturn  a  successor  of  Atlas.  Accoi-ding  to 
some  accounts,  Saturn  was  dethroned.  Thymastes  said  he 
was  dethroned  by  Dionysos.  The  common  statement  is 
that  Jupiter,  his  successor,  became  one  of  the  greatest  of 
monarch  s.  Another  version  makes  Atlas  the  son  of  lape- 
tus,  and  the  nephew  of  Saturn  and  Hyperion. 

It  must  be  that  these  ancient  myths,  however  arrayed 
by  fancy,  or  varied  by  local  prejudice  or  tradition,  rest  on 
a  basis  of  fact.  They  cannot  be  pure  inventions ;  this  is 
impossible;  there  is  history  in  them;  and  I  should  feel 
that  I  was  rejecting  light  and  trifling  with  reason  if  I  could 
refuse  to  see  that  they  preserve  recollections  of  the  lost 
history  of  very  ancient  countries  in  those  regions  of  Africa 
and  Europe  to  which  they  refer.  The  traditions  declare 


358  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

explicitly  that  such  countries  existed  there.  There  is  noth- 
ing whatever  to  make  this  improbable ;  and  when  we  con- 
sider the  great  antiquity  and  enterprise  of  the  Cushite  civ- 
ilization that  created  Egypt,  we  feel  that  the  general  tes- 
timony of  these  traditions  must  be  true.  But,  to  see  it 
clearly,  we  must  dismiss  all  narrow  views  of  the  past. 

THE   AGE    OF   BRONZE   IX   WESTERN   EUROPE. 

Let  us  now  turn  to  a  consideration  of  some  of  the  facts 
brought  to  light  within  a  few  years  by  the  investigations 
of  geologists.  These  facts  show  that  the  antiquity  of  the 
human  race  in  that  part  of  the  globe  is  much  greater  than 
even  the  boldest  geologist  had  allowed  himself  to  suppose. 
Human  remains  have  been  discovered  in  the  geological  for- 
mation known  as  "  the  drift,"  and  in  other  subseqiient  for- 
mations down  to  the  present  time.  In  the  older  formations 
these  remains  consist  chiefly  of  articles  of  human  manufac- 
ture, such  as  arms  and  utensils  of  various  kinds.  Tkey  arc 
all  made  of  stone ;  at  first,  and  for  a  long  time,  of  flint,  but 
finally,  when  greater  skill  had  been  developed,  various 
kinds  of  stone  were  used,  and  a  higher  style  of  workman- 
ship was  displayed. 

At  length  there  is  a  sudden  transition  from  arms  and 
implements  made  of  stone  to  those  made  of  bronze.  The 
arms,  cutting  instruments,  and  other  bronze  articles,  were 
beautifully  manufactured.  In  form  and  ornamentation  they 
are  very  similar  all  over  Western  Europe.  In  his  wrork  on 
the  subject,  entitled  "  Pre-Historic  Times,"  Sir  J.  Lubbock 
says:  "The  similarity  to  each  other  of  the  bronze  weapons 
found  in  very  distant  parts  of  Europe  implies  a  more  ex- 
tended intercourse  between  the  different  countries  than 
existed  in  post-Roman  times,"  or  in  the  centuries  immedi- 


The  Ages  of  Bronze  and  Stone.  359 

ately  after  the  Roman  occupation  of  Gaul.  This  Bronze 
Age  seems  to  have  been  of  very  long  duration.  Bronze, 
however,  was  superseded  by  iron  long  before  the  Christian 
Era,  for  iron  was  in  use  in  all  those  countries  before  the 
Romans  went  there.  A  very  long  time  must  have  inter- 
vened between  the  beginning  of  the  age  of  iron  and  the 
first  invasion  of  the  Romans. 

But  I  do  not  propose  to  undertake  an  elaborate  discus- 
sion of  these  discoveries,  which  have  been  very  carefully 
described  and  discussed  in  many  volumes  already  publish- 
ed in  English,  French,  Danish,  and  German.  They  have 
been  made  in  nearly  all  the  Western  countries  of  Europe, 
and  particularly  in  France,  Switzerland,  England,  Ireland, 
Germany,  and  Denmark.  My  purpose  is  to  draw  attention 
chiefly  to  what  is  described  as  the  Age  of  Bronze.  The 
preceding  age  of  Stone,  according  to  competent  geologists, 
must  have  endured  for  a  great  length  of  time ;  but  it  was, 
in  part,  an  age  of  civilization.  Professor  Worsaae  divides 
this  age  into  three  periods  :  First,  the  period  of  the  stone 
implements  found  in  the  drift  and  in  caves,  with  remains 
of  the  mammoth  and  other  extinct  animals ;  second,  the  pe- 
riod of  the  stone  implements  found  in  the  Danish  Kjoken- 
moddings  [or  shell  heaps]  and  coast-finds ;  third,  the  later 
Stone  Age,  or  the  period  characterized  by  arms  and  im- 
plements of  stone  beautifully  worked,  and  by  large  tumuli 
or  buried  tombs.  Sir  John  Lubbock  divides  the  Stone  Age 
into  two  periods :  that  in  which  the  stone  implements  were 
rudely  manufactured  of  flint,  and  that  in  which  they  were 
made  with  much  skill ;  the  former  he  calls  the  Palaeolithic 
period,  and  the  latter  the  Neolithic  period. 

The  Age  of  Polished  Stone  manufactures  evidently  had 
a  considerable  degree  of  civilization.  The  beautifully 


360  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

worked  stone  arms  and  implements,  the  gold  and  amber 
ornaments,  and  the  large  tumuli  or  buried  tombs,  with 
massive  stone  walls  carefully  constructed,  show  that  age 
to  have  been  very  different  from  an  age  of  barbarism.  The 
people  who  manufactured  these  artistic  stone  implements, 
who  constructed  such  sepulchral  tumuli  as  that  at  West 
Kennett,  England,  and  those  on  the  Danish  island  of  Moen, 
and  who  cultivated  wheat,  barley,  and  flax,  and  wove  tis- 
sues of  linen,  were  not  barbarians.  They  may  have  been 
much  farther  removed  from  barbarism  than  some  peoples 
of  our  time,  who,  without  merit  or  effort  of  their  own,  have 
received  from  civilization  all  the  metals,  with  many  of  its 
useful  arts.  It  appears  that  they  had  domestic  animals 
and  agriculture ;  and  among  the  remains  of  their  age,  im- 
plements have  been  discovered  which  are  supposed  to  be 
stone  ploughs.  [See  "Horse  Ferales,"  p.  43.] 

The  Age  of  Bronze,  by  which  the  Age  of  Polished  Stone 
implements  was  immediately  succeeded,  has  left  a  great 
variety  of  interesting  monuments.  It  has  been  studied 
with  special  interest  in  the  Danish  peat-bogs  and  in  the 
ruins  of  lake  dwellings  in  Western  Switzerland ;  but  a 
careful  examination  of  the  many  tumuli  connected  with 
Stonehenge  and  with  the  ancient  ruins  at  Abury,  in  Eng- 
land, shows  clearly  that  these  structures  belong  to  the  Age 
of  Bronze — Abury  to  its  earliest  period,  and  Stonehenge  to 
a  period  much  later.  Abury  was  the  most  extensive  and 
imposing  of  these  pre-historic  temples.  Mr.  Lubbock  re- 
marks that,  according  to  Aubrey,  Abury  "  did  as  much  ex- 
ceed Stonehenge  as  a  cathedral  does  a  parish  church." 
When  in  perfect  condition,  the  temple  at  Abury  contained 
an  area  of  28£  acres.  If  originally  used  as  a  temple,  as  is 
commonly  supposed,  it  may  also  have  been  used  for  great 
assemblies  of  the  people  for  other  grave  purposes. 


The  Danish  Peat-beds  explored.  361 

The  remarkable  peat-beds  of  Denmark  have  been  formed, 
during  a  long  series  of  years,  in  hollows  or  depressions  in 
the  "  drift,"  varying  in  depth  from  ten  to  thirty  feet.  Dur- 
ing the  ages  that  have  elapsed  since  these  peat  formations 
began,  the  trees  of  many  successive  forests  have  fallen  into 
the  growing  deposits  of  peat,  arid  been  buried  out  of  sight 
as  the  accumulations  increased.  In  the  lowest  strata  the 
buried  trees  are  of  the  species  known  as  Scotch  fir  (Pinus 
sylvestris).  This  tree  is  now  unknown  in  Denmark,  and 
will  not  thrive  there.  In  the  peat  formations  next  above 
the  Scotch  firs  the  buried  trees  are  oak,  described  as  "  the 
sessile  variety ;"  and  these,  in  turn,  are  succeeded  by  oaks 
of  the  "  pedunculated  variety."  In  the  upper  strata  beech- 
trees  are  found.  The  beech  is  now  the  common  forest  tree 
of  Denmark,  and  it  was  so  in  the  time  of  the  Romans. 

It  will  be  seen  that  a  very  long  period  of  time  Avas  re- 
quired for  the  growth,  decay,  and  final  disappearance,  first, 
of  the  successive  forests  of  firs,  and  next  of  the  successive 
forests  of  oaks  ;  and  yet  no  record  or  memory  in  Denmark 
knows  anything  of  the  time  when  the  Danish  forests  were 
not  beech.  In  the  lower  part  of  the  peat-beds,  with  the 
firs  and  the  first  layers  of  oak,  human  remains  are  found  be- 
longing to  the  later  periods  of  the  Age  of  Stone.  In  the 
strata  with  the  oaks  are  found  swords,  shields,  and  other 
articles,  made  of  bronze,  with  the  bones  of  men  and  domes- 
tic animals.  The  beginning  of  the  Age  of  Iron  coincides 

O  O  ~ 

very  nearly  with  the  first  appearance  of  fallen  beech-trees. 
Remains  of  the  Bronze  Age  are  abundant  in  the  ruins 
of  the  pile-works  or  lake  dwellings  of  Western  and  Central 
Switzerland,  where  there  have  been  some  attempts  to  esti- 
mate the  antiquity  of  these  memorials  of  the  distant  past, 
and  large  collections  of  bronze  articles  have  been  maclt* 

Q 


36:2  Pre-IIistorlc  Nations. 

from  mortuary  tumuli.  It  is  manifest  in  these  antiquities 
that  the  Age  of  Bronze  was  an  acre  of  civilization.  The 

o  o 

bronze  itself  implies  this,  not  to  speak  of  the  beautiful  form 
and  workmanship  of  many  of  the  articles.  Bronze  is  a 
manufactured  product,  consisting  of  copper  and  tin,  and 
implies  skill  in  metallurgy ;  it  must  have  been  introduced 
into  Western  Europe  by  a  foreign  people. 

There  have  been  tentative  efforts  to  estimate  the  antiq- 
uity of  some  remains  of  the  Age  of  Bronze,  especially  of 
certain  pile-works  in  Switzerland ;  but  these  calculations 
are  necessarily  imperfect,  and  cannot  produce  satisfactory 
results.  One  Swiss  geologist  estimates  that  certain  struc- 
tures of  the  Bronze  Age  in  Switzerland  are  "  from  3000  to 
4000  years  old."  They  are  doubtless  much  older,  and  the 
beginning  of  the  Bronze  Age  in  that  country  may  have 
been  more  than  1000  years  older  than  the  particular  struc- 
tures used  in  making  this  estimate.  It  is  not  extravagant 
to  suppose  the  Age  of  Bronze  began  in  Britain,  Gaul,  and 
perhaps  Denmark,  where  it  was  older  than  in  Switzerland, 
more  than  3000  years  before  the  Christian  Era;  nor  is  it 
worth  while  to  quarrel  with  any  archaeologist  who  may  be 
inclined  to  add  considerably  to  these  figures,  for  on  this 
point  nothing  can  be  said  or  assumed  with  certainty.  We 
are  sure  only  that  the  beginning  of  the  Age  of  Bronze 
must  be  sought  far  back  in  the  past.  Nevertheless,  there 
are  certain  facts  relating  to  this  age  that  furnish  something 
like  historical  intimations. 

In  the  first  place,  during  that  age,  or  a  large  part  of  it, 
the  countries  of  Western  Europe,  where  its  remains  are 
found,  must  have  been  subject  to  the  influence  of  a  single 
government  or  ruling  people.  Everything  indicates  re- 
markable similarity  of  customs,  ideas,  and  methods  of  life ; 


The  Bronze  Age  in  Switzerland.  363 

there  was  a  striking  uniformity  of  civilization  ;  the  swords, 
cutting  instruments,  tools,  utensils,  and  other  bronze  arti- 
cles, all  seem  to  have  been  made  after  the  same  patterns, 
as  if  these  bronze  manufactures  came  originally  from  the 
same  source ;  and  there  was  evidently  a  more  intimate  and 
constant  communication  between  these  countries  than  ex- 
isted when  they  were  first  visited  by  the  Romans. 

In  the  second  place,  it  is  seen  that  the  use  of  bronze  arms 
and  implements  must  have  begun  on  the  islands  and  the 
coast,  and  been  extended  to  the  interior  from  the  West.  It 
seems  evident  that  the  Age  of  Bronze  was  older  in  Ireland, 
Britain,  and  the  islands  of  Denmark  than  in  Germany  and 
Switzerland.  That  the  use  of  bronze  was  spread  into  the 
interior  from  the  West  is  shown  very  clearly  by  the  dis- 
coveries in  Switzerland.  Remains  of  the  Bronze  Age  have 
not  been  found  in  the  eastern  part  of  that  country.  It  is 
only  in  Western  and  Central  Switzerland  that  these  bronze 
antiquities  are  discovered.  Sir  J.  Lubbock,  stating  the  re- 
sult of  investigation  in  that  country,  says :  "  Lake  habita- 
tions of  the  Bronze  Age  have  as  yet  been  found  only  on 
the  lakes  of  Geneva,  Luissel,  Neufchatel,  Morat,  Bienne, 
and  Sempach ;  none  in  Eastern  Switzerland.  It  has  been 
supposed  from  this  that  the  Age  of  Stone  lasted  longer  in 
the  East  than  in  the  West,  and  that  flint  and  serpentine 
were  in  use  on  Lake  Constance  long  after  bronze  had  re- 
placed them  on  the  Western  lakes."  These  facts  make  it 
necessary  to  believe  that  bronze  came  to  Switzerland  from 
the  West,  and  was  introduced  into  those  districts  only 
which  became  intimately  connected  with  the  other  coun- 
tries where  the  remains  of  bronze  manufactures  are  found. 

It  may  be  added  here  that  no  remains  of  the  earliest 
period  of  the  Stone  Age  are  found  in  the  Scandinavian 


SC-i  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

countries,  which  leads  some  geological  archaeologists  to 
believe  that  these  countries  were  not  inhabited  until  after 
the  beginning  of  the  Age  of  Polished  Stone.  Also,  it  does 
not  appear  that  either  the  Age  of  Stone  or  the  Age  of 
Bronze  can  be  studied  in  Spain  or  Italy,  or  in  any  part  of 
the  territory  occupied  by  the  old  Iberians,  where,  as  I  sup- 
pose, the  Cushite  civilization  was  established  much  earlier 
than  the  beginning  of  the  Age  of  Bronze  farther  north.  I 
will  not  undertake  to  say  what  discoveries  geological 
archaeology  can  make  in  these  regions,  but  the  distinction 
between  them  and  the  northern  countries  is  manifest,  and 
it  must  be  due  to  a  much  earlier  civilization  in  Italy  and 
throughout  the  Iberian  territory. 

In  the  third  place,  the  sudden  transition  from  stone  to 
bronze  indicates  that  the  change  was  produced  by  the  in- 
fluence of  a  foreign  people,  to  whom  bronze,  and  the  art  of 
manufacturing  bronze  arms  and  implements,  were  already 
known.  A  knowledge  of  copper  and  tin,  and  the  art  of 
working  these  metals,  must  have  preceded  the  appearance 
of  bronze,  an  article  produced  by  combining  them  in  cer- 
tain proportions.  There  must  have  been  necessarily  a  con- 
siderable period  of  time  between  the  first  discovery  of 
both  copper  and  tin,  and  the  development  of  that  knowl- 
edge of  the  peculiarities  and  uses  of  these  metals  which 
suggested  the  possibility  of  producing  a  more  useful  mate- 
vial  by  combining  them,  and  led  to  the  skillful  and  artistic 
inanufacture  of  bronze  articles,  such  as  now  represent  the 
Age  of  Bronze.  If  bronze  had  been  an  original  production 
of  "Western  Europe,  it  must  have  been  preceded  by  an  age 
of  copper  and  tin.  Therefore  it  is  necessary  to  believe, 
with  the  most  competent  archaeologists,  that  bronze  is  one 
of  those  great  discoveries  which  Western  Europe  owes  to 


Bronze  came  from  the  East.  365 

the  East.  Professor  Nilsson  states  that  the  oldest  bronze 
articles  show  the  most  perfect  workmanship,  seeming  to 
have  come  from  abroad;  while  inferior  workmanship  ap- 
pears in  those  of  later  date,  indicating  that  they  were 
manufactured  in  the  countries  where  they  are  found.  It  is 
certain  that  bronze  had  been  carried  everywhere  through- 
out the  East  long  before  the  beginning  of  the  historical 
period  by  the  commercial  enterprise  of  those  marvelous 
manufacturers  and  traders,  the  Arabian  Cushites,  and  also 
by  their  representatives,  the  Phoenicians.  What  we  call 
brass,  an  article  made  of  copper  and  zinc,  was  unknown  to 
the  ancients ;  but  they  had  bronze,  which  must  have  been 
introduced  by  the  Arabian  Cushites,  who  may  have  dis- 
covered and  worked  the  tin  mines  of  Banca  at  an  early 
period  in  their  history,  before  they  had  sailed  to  the  Cas- 
siterides. 

In  the  fourth  place,  there  is  much  in  these  antiquities 
which  appears  to  show  in  a  very  conclusive  manner  that  the 
Bronze  Age  in  "Western  Europe  was  introduced  by  a  for- 
eign people  of  the  Cushite  race,  culture,  and  religion,  and 
that  for  a  very  long  period  it  was  controlled  and  directed 
by  their  influence.  Professor  Nilsson,  whose  learning,  ex- 
cellent judgment,  and  thorough  study  of  the  subject  have 
made  him  the  highest  authority  on  most  questions  relating 
to  it,  is  sure  that  bronze  was  brought  to  that  region  by 
the  Phoenicians,  meaning  the  race  they  represent.  The 
Arabian  Cushites,  or  the  communities  they  established  in 
Spain  and  Africa,  are  the  only  people  of  antiquity  who  can 
be  supposed  to  have  done  this  ;  but  he  sees  their  presence 
and  influence  throughout  the  Bronze  Age  in  the  peculiar 
character  of  the  manufactured  articles,  in  the  ornaments 
on  the  bronze  implements,  in  the  engravings  found  in  tu 


360  Pi-c-  Historic  A  -{ions. 


muli  of  the  Bronze  Age,  in  the  indications  of  peculiar 
methods  of  reaping  and  fishing,  in  the  general  use  of  war- 
chariots,  and  in  the  many  clear  traces  of  the  worship  of 
Baal.  He  calls  attention  -to  two  stones  from  a  tumulus 
near  Kivik,  on  which  are  representations  of  human  figures 
that  even  Sir  J.  Lubbock  admits  "  may  fairly  be  said  to 
have  a  Phoenician  or  Egyptian  appearance."  An  obelisk 
symbolizing  Baal  is  represented  on  another  of  the  stones. 
The  festival  of  Baal,  or  Balder,  celebrated  on  midsummer 
night  in  the  upper  part  of  Norway,  reveals  the  Cushite 
race,  for  the  midnight  fire  in  presence  of  the  midnight  sun 
did  not  originate  in  that  latitude.  This  festival  of  Baal 
was  celebrated  in  the  British  Islands  until  recent  times. 
Baal  has  given  such  names  as  Baltic,  Great  a*nd  Little  Belt, 
Belteburga,  Baleshaugen,  and  the  like.  Professor  Nilsson 
calls  particular  attention  to  two  vase  carriages,  one  found 
in  Sweden  and  the  other  in  Mecklenburg,  which  are  strik- 
ingly like  the  "  vases"  made  for  Solomon's  Temple,  and  de- 
scribed in  the  first  book  of  Kings.  But,  to  appreciate  the 
whole  force  of  his  statement  of  the  case,  one  must  read  it 
carefully,  without  abridgment. 

Sir  J.  Lubbock  urges  "  two  strong  objections"  to  these 
views  of  Professor  Nilsson,  which  in  reality  are  very  weak. 
He  states  them  as  follows  :  "  The  first  is  the  character  of 
the  ornamentation  on  the  bronze  weapons  and  implements. 
This  almost  always  consists  of  geometrical  figures,  and  we 
rarely,  if  ever,  find  upon  them  representations  of  animals 
or  plants  ;  while  on  the  ornamented  shields,  etc.,  described 
by  Homer,  as  well  as  in  the  decorations  of  Solomon's  Tem- 
ple, animals  and  plants  were  abundantly  represented.  Sec- 
ondly, the  Phoenicians,  so  far  as  we  know  them,  were  well 
acquainted  with  the  use  of  iron  ;  in  Homer  we  find  the 


LubbocJc's  Objections  criticised.  307 

warriors  already  armed  with  iron  weapons,  and  the  tools 
used  in  preparing  the  materials  for  Solomon's  Temple  were 
of  this  material." 

These  objections  assume  too  much.  It  does  not  accord 
with  either  reason  or  probability  to  suppose  the  materials, 
methods  of  manufacture,  or  styles  of  ornamentation  pecu- 
liar to  the  Phoenicians  in  the  time  of  Homer  and  Solomon 
were  in  all  respects  precisely  the  same  as  those  used  by 
another  people  of  the  same  race  more  than  two  thousand 
years  earlier.*  The  Phoenicians  may  have  had  iron  in  the 
time  of  Homer,  and  they  may  have  introduced  the  Iron 
Age  of  "Western  Europe,  but  the  older  Cushite  peoples 
had  bronze  long  previous  to  that  date.  Moreover,  these 
objections  do  not  undertake  to  deny  that  people  of  the 
Cushite  race  are  directly  connected  with  the  Age  of  Bronze 
by  the  religious  significance  of  its  remains.  What  other 
people  could  have  brought  the  worship  of  Baal  to  West- 
ern Europe  in  pre-historic  times  ?  We  see  them  in  the 
stone  circles,  in  the  ruins  at  Abury  and  Stonehenge,  in  the 
festival  of  Baal  that  lingered  -until  our  own  times ;  and 
there  is  something  for  consideration  in  the  fact  that  Ara- 
bia has  still  the  ruins  of  ancient  structures  precisely  like 
Stonehenge.  It  is  probable  that  the  Arabians,  or  their 
representatives  in  Spain  and  North  Africa,  went  northward 
and  began  the  Age  of  Bronze  more  than  2000  years  before 
Gades  was  built. 

*  In  his  Introduction  to  Professor  Kilsson's  "Primitive  Inhabitants  of 
Scandinavia,"  Sir  John  Lubbock  adds  this  suggestion:  "  If  Professor 
Nilsson  be  correct,  the  bronze  weapons  must  belong  to  an  earlier  period  in 
Phoenician  history  than  that  with  which  we  are  partially  familiar."  The 
suggestion  is  important.  lie  is  not  likely  to  deny  that  the  beginning  of 
the  Age  of  Bronze  is  much  older  than  Gades. 


3CS  Pre-Hiatoric  Nations. 


TUB    ANCIENT   RACE    OF   WESTERN   EUROPE. 

What  race  of  the  human  family  was  found  in  Western 
Europe  by  the  people  who  introduced  the  Age  of  Bronze  ? 
This  question  has  engaged  much  attention.  The  inhabit- 
ants of  those  countries  had  created  the  Age  of  Polished 
Stone,  therefore  they  had  risen  from  barbarism  to  a  con- 
siderable degree  of  civilization.  It  is  generally  agreed 
among  those  who  have  inquired  most  carefully  that  the 
race  now  represented  in  Europe  by  the  Finns  and  the 
Hungarians  was  anciently  spread  throughout  nearly  all 
the  European  countries.  It  is  seen  that  the  Finns  have  re- 
tired or  been  driven  towards  the  north  since  the  opening 
of  the  historical  period ;  and  it  seems  probable  that  the 
branch  of  this  race  now  represented  by  the  Finns  and  the 
Esthonians  occupied  all  the  countries  of  Western  Europe 
be-fore  the  Arabian  Cushites  went  there,  and  all  the  coun- 
tries so  far  south  as  to  include  nearly  the  whole  of  France, 
at  the  beginning  of  the  Age  of  Bronze.  Doubtless  the  old 
Iberians  and  Ligurians,  with  the  Siculi  and  Sicani  of  Italy, 
belonged  originally  to  this  race,  but  they  were  formed  by 
the  Cushite  civilization  at  a  much  earlier  period.  This 
Finnish  race  is  the  oldest  in  Europe  of  which  we  have  any 
clear  trace.* 

Previous. to  the  beginning  of  the  Keltic  age,  and  proba- 
*  Sir  John  Lubbock  suggests  that  there  may  have  been  "  two  distinct 
races"  in  Western  Europe  in  the  Stone  Age,  because  two  skulls  belonging 
to  that  age  are  differently  shaped,  one  being  "long"  and  the  other 
"round."  Craniology  is  not  the  surest  guide,  here  or  anywhere  else. 
There  is  not  a  civilized  race  in  Europe  that  cannot  furnish  specimens  of 
skulls  of  nearly  every  shape  specified  by  craniologists,  while  among  un- 
civilized peoples  the  shape  of  the  skull  is  by  no  means  so  uniform  as  many 


The  Iberians  a  mixed  Race.  369 

bly  before  the  time  of  the  Bronze  Age,  Spain,  with  a  nar- 
row district  of  Southern  France  extending  to  Northern 
Italy,  was  separate  and  distinct  from  the  countries  farther 
north,  not  because  it  was  inhabited  by  a  different  race,  but 
evidently  because,  in  the  earliest  times,  some  great  influ- 
ence from  abroad  had  modified  the  character  and  condi- 
tion, and  perhaps  the  speech  of  the  people.  It  appears  tc> 
show  the  first  occupation  of  Southwestern  Europe  by  the 
Cushite  Arabians  in  ages  quite  as  old  as  Egypt,  as  signi- 
fied by  the  myths  relating  to  Hercules.  Before  the  Finnic 
race,  farther  north,  had  passed  from  the  Age  of  Stone  to 
the  Age  of  Bronze,  Spain  and  Italy,  as  well  as  Northern 
Africa,  came  under  control  of  the  most  enlightened  people 
of  what,  at  that  time,  was  known  as  the  civilized  world. 

The  original  inhabitants  of  Spain  "(meaning  by  original 
the  oldest  of  whom  we  have  any  trace)  were  the  Iberians, 
represented  in  our  time  by  the  Basques  who  occupy  the 
western  slopes  and  valleys  of  the  Pyrenees  in  Spain  and 
France.  They  are  the  most  remarkable,  and,  in  some  re- 
spects, the  most  mysterious  communities  in  Europe,  for 
they  represent  a  people  who  have  disappeared,  and  of 
whom  no  other  fragmentary  group  remains  on  the  face  of 
the  earth.  This  people  may  be,  like  the  Dravidians  of 
India,  the  only  remaining  representatives  of  a  very  ancient 
mixture  of  the  Arabian  Cushites  with  the  aborigines  of  the 
country  where  they  are  found.  Their  language,  like  that 
of  the  Dravidians,  seems  to  have  no  genetic  relationship 
to  any  other  known  language,  so  far  as  comparative  phi- 
lology has  been  able  to  ascertain.  In  its  structure  it  has 
more  in  common  with  certain  American  languages  than 
any  others.  Some  resemblances  to  languages  of  the  Finn- 
ish family  have  been  traced,  but  nothing  that  makes  it 

Q  2 


370  P re-Historic  Nations. 

possible  to  class  the  Basque  tongue  with  languages  of  that 
family.  It  appears  to  represent  a  very  ancient  group  or 
family  of  languages,  of  composite  origin  probably,  that  had 
passed  away  before  the  beginning  of  the  historical  period, 
leaving  only  this  fragment  of  the  group  in  a  narrow  dis- 
trict on  the  Bay  of  Biscay,  where  it  has  maintained  its  ex- 
istence with  wonderful  tenacity. 

It  has  been  shown,  by  a  careful  collection  and  analysis 
of  local  names,  that  the  Basques  or  Iberians  anciently  oc- 
cupied the  whole  of  Spain,  and  also  the  southern  part  of 
France,  where  the  Acquitani  belonged  to  this  race;  and 
they  are  traced  to  Italy,  Sicily,  and  Sardinia,  where  the 
aboriginal  population,  or  the  people  found  there  in  the 
most  ancient  times,  seem  to  have  belonged  to  the  same 
family,  for  there  are  many  old  names  of  rivers,  places,  and 
tribes  that  evidently  came  from  the  Iberian  language. 

This  philological  testimony  is  not  without  historical  sup- 
port. Thucydides  and  several  other  Greek  writers  who 
had  carefully  explored  the  old  records  and  traditions  of 
their  time  tell  us  that  the  most  ancient  inhabitants  of 
Italy  and  Sicily  were  the  Sicani,  and  that  the  Sicani  were 
Iberians.  Nevertheless,  we  cannot  suppose  Thucydides 
was  able  to  give  an  authentic  account  of  the  oldest  times. 
The  people  found  in  this  part  of  Europe  by  the  ancient 
civilizers  must  have  been  greatly  changed  by  the  mixture 
of  races  and  languages.  So  it  was  farther  north  at  a  later 
period,  especially  in  Gaul  and  the  British  Islands.  In  all 
these  countries  the  aboriginal  inhabitants  were  originally 
of  the  Finnish  race,  we  must  suppose.  It  is  very  certain 
that  they  were  neither  Aryans  nor  Semites,  and  that  the 
remote  age  when  they  first  came  under  the  control  of  tin* 
Cushite  influence  had  become  mythical  long  before  the  fiist 
arrival  of  the  Pelassrians  in  Italy. 


The  Pelasgiam  in  Italy.  371 


THE   ANCIENT   HISTORY    OF   ITALY. 

Dionysius  of  Halicarnassus,  justly  described  as  one  of 
the  most  diligent  and  accurate  antiquaries  of  his  time, 
states  that  the  first  Pelasgian  immigrants  who  settled  in 
Italy  went  from  Arcadia  "seventeen  generations  before 
the  Trojan  "War."  Their  leader  was  GEnotrus ;  on  this  ac- 
count they  were  called  CEnotrians.  There  is  no  record  or 
trace  of  the  appearance  in  Italy  of  any  people  of  the  Aryan 
race  previous  to  this  date,  and  yet  the  Pelasgians  may 
have  gone  there  earlier.  Dionysius  says :  "Antiochus,  an 
ancient  historian,  relates  that  the  CEnotrians  were  the  first 
[Pelasgic]  settlers  known  to  have  come  into  Italy;  that 
one  of  this  race,  called  Italus,  was  a  king ;  and  that  Italus 
was  succeeded  by  Morges,  from  whom  the  CEnotrians  were 
called  Morgetes  and  Italians."  The  CEnotrians  were  fol- 
lowed by  other  Pelasgian  colonies  from  Thessaly,  and  prob- 
ably from  other  districts  of  the  wide  region  occupied  by 
the  Pelasgic  race. 

Italy  was  known  to  the  Pelasgians  as  Tyrrhenia,  and  its 
people  were  called  Siculi,  Umbrians,  and  Tyrrhenes.  It  is 
said  that  long  and  bloody  wars  ensued  between  the  Pelas- 
gians and  the  Tyrrhenes ;  the  Pelasgians  "  pressed  the  Sic- 
uli [or  Tyrrhenes]  on  all  sides;"  they  seized  Croton,  "a 
town  of  the  Umbrians,  a  very  ancient  people  dispersed  over 
many  parts  of  Italy  prior  to  the  arrival  of  the  Pelasgians;" 
and  "  driving  out  the  Siculi,  they  took  many  towns  of  the 
Tuscans,  the  Siculi  passing  over  into  Sicily,  at  that  time 
possessed  by  the  Sicani,  an  Iberian  tribe."  But  "the  Pe- 
lasgians, having  established  themselves  in  Italy,  fell  into 
great  calamities."  The  native  inhabitants  rose  against 
them,  overthrew  their  dominion,  and  resumed  control  of 


o7:2  Pre-Hlstorl* 

the  country.  The  Pelasgi,  it  is  said,  greatly  declined ; 
some  of  them  returned  to  Greece ;  some  may  have  fol- 
lowed others  of  the  race  who  had  previously  gone  farther 
west.  Neither  Kelts  nor  the  Keltic  tongue  appeared  in 
Italy  through  their  influence.  Those  who  remained  after 
these  troubles  were  settled  chiefly  in  Latium,  and  "  after- 
wards founded  Rome." 

There  is  no  good  warrant  for  believing  that  any  people 
of  the  Aryan  race  appeared  in  Italy  as  immigrants  except 
the  Pelasgians,  who  doubtless  went  there  not  only  from 
the  Hellenic  peninsula,  but  also  from  Asia  Minor.  Among 
the  various  opinions  expressed  by  scholars  and  archaeolo- 
gists concerning  the  original  inhabitants  and  ancient  his- 
tory of  Italy,  none  deserves  more  respect,  or  has  stronger 
support  from  reason  and  probability,  than  that  of  Professor 
Lepsius,  who  is  sure  there  was  no  invasion  or  occupation 
of  Italy  by  any  foreign  people  after  it  was  conquered  by 
the  Pelasgians.  After  a  duration  of  several  centuries,,  prob- 
ably, the  Pelasgian  power  was  overthrown  by  a  successful 
rising  of  the  original  inhabitants.  This  restoration  of  the 
Siculi,  Umbrians,  or  original  Tyrrhenes  to  power  created 
what  is  known  to  us  as  Etruria.  At  a  later  period,  the 
Pelasgians  of  Latium  rose  successfully  against  the  Tyrrhe- 
nian race,  and  established  Rome.  Niebuhr's  theory  that 
the  Etrurians  were  a  tribe  from  the  Rha3tian  Alps  is  not 
supported  by  any  record  of  antiquity,  and  it  overlooks  the 
more  obvious  and  probable  explanation  of  the  origin  of 
Etruria.  Doubtless  there  was  a  close  ethnic  relationship 
between  the  tribes  of  the  Rhaetian  Alps  and  the  original 
inhabitants  of  Italy,  but  Etruria  did  not  owe  its  existence 
to  their  agency. 

We  know  by  their  language,  preserved  in  the  Euguvine 


Origin  of  the  Tyrrhenes.    '  373 

tablets  and  in  other  inscriptions,  and  by  their  religious  and 
social  customs,  that  the  original  inhabitants  of  Italy  did  not 
belong  to  the  Aryan  race.  This  was  manifest  to  Dionysi- 
us  of  Halicarnassus,  who  says :  "  That  the  Tyrrhenes  and 
Pclasgi  were  different  peoples  is  proved  by  their  languages, 
which  had  no  resemblance;  neither  do  I  think  the  Tyr- 
rhenes were  a  colony  of  Lydians,  for  there  is  no  resemblance 
here  in  language.  These  two  people  differed  in  laws,  in 
manners,  and  in  institutions."  The  religious  ideas  and  cus- 
toms, and  the  institutions  of  the  Tyrrhenes,  had  a  striking 
resemblance  to  those  of  the  Eastern  nations  that  had  been 
formed  by  Cushite  influence.  This  has  led  many  writers 
into  attempts  to  show  that  they  came  to  Italy  from  the 
East;  but,. when  Cushite  antiquity  and  enterprise  are  prop- 
erly recognised,  it  becomes  much  more  probable  that  this 
unmistakable  resemblance  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  Siculi, 
or  Tyrrhenes,  were  civilized,  and  formed,  socially  and  po- 
litically, by  the  Cushite  people  called  Ethiopians.  Their 
civilization  appears  to  have  been  superior  to  that  of  the 
Pelasgian  race.  The  founders  of  Rome,  in  comparison  with 
them,  were  little  better  than  semi-barbarians  ;  and  it  may 
be  doubted  whether  Rome,  which  far  transcended  Etruria 
in  political  and  military  power,  could  justly  claim  any  oth- 
er superiority  to  the  Etruscan  civilization. 

I  have  pointed  out  that  the  original  inhabitants  of  Italy, 
whom  Dionysius  calls  the  "Aborigines,"  were  a  branch  of 
the  Finnic  race,  anciently  spread  over  nearly  the  whole  of 
Europe.  To  the  same  race  probably  belonged  not  only  the 
Iberians  and  the  Ligurians,  but  also  perhaps  the  most  an- 
cient Illyrians,  before  they  were  intermixed  with  tribes  of 
the  Aryan  race.  If  the  various  branches  of  the  Finnic  race 
separated  before  they  were  civilized,  a  very  close  identity 


374:  •      Pre-Historic  Nations. 

of  language  and  customs,  at  the  period  when  they  first  en- 
gage the  attention  of  history,  would  not  be  possible.  The 
earliest  establishments  of  the  Arabian  Cushite  race  in  Italy, 
Spain-,  and  Northwestern  Africa  may  have  been  more  than 
3000  years  older  than  the  first  arrival  of  the  Pelasgians  in 
Italy.  Their  aims  were  commercial,  their  methods  of  com- 
munication with  other  peoples  were  peaceful,  and  we  must 
suppose  that  the  civilization  of  the  Tyrrhenes  was  origin- 
ally created  by  their  influence.  So  far  as  appears  at  the 
present  time,  the  civilization  of  the  Etruscans  was  much 
higher  than  that  of  the  Iberians.  But,  in  this  case,  appear- 
ance is  not  a  safe  guide  to  reality.  The  Basques  do  not 
show  us  the  whole  extent  of  the  ancient  civilization  of  their 
remote  ancestors,  and  it  requires  no  small  amount  of  gratu- 
itous assumption  to  believe  that  the  pre-historic  civiliza- 
tion of  Spain  was  inferior  to  that  of  Italy. 

The  Etruscan  language,  like  that  of  the  Basques,  pre- 
sents a  problem  which  no  philologist  has  been  able  to  solve. 
It  has  engaged  much  attention,  and  from  time  to  time 
there  have  been  confident  announcements  that  this  and  the 
other  ingenious  scholar  had  penetrated  the  mystery,  and 
found  the  clew  to  its  genetic  relationships,  but  it  remains 
still  without  an  interpreter.  Otfried  M tiller's  learned  spec- 
ulations on  the  ancient  dialects  of  Italy  are  worth  no  more 
than  the  curious  and  very  amusing  attempt  of  Sir  William 
Betham  to  translate  the  Euguvine  tablets ;  and  Betham's 
translation,  which  fills  them  with  directions  for  night-sail- 
ing to  Ireland,  is  quite  as  confident,  and  perhaps  nearly  as 
correct,  as  that  which  finds  on  these  tablets  "  the  prayers 
and  ceremonial  rules  of  a  fraternity  of  priests."  The  Um- 
brian  and  Etruscan  inscriptions  show  us  what  remains  of 
the  language  of  a  people  who  were  developed  and  formed 


The  word  Africa  explained.  375 

by  the  Cushitc  civilization  many  ages  before  the  Aryans 
entered  Italy,  and,  it  may  be,  before  the  Pelasgian  tribes 
came  from  Inner  Asia  to  the  Mediterranean.  Of  course, 
this  language  underwent  many  changes  during  th§  long 
and  eventful  history  of  the  ancient  people  by  whom  it  was 
used.  How  much  the  original  tongue  of  this  people  was 
changed  or  influenced  by  the  Cushite  speech  of  their  civ- 
ilizers,  and  to  what  extent  it  was  affected  by  other  influ- 
ences, can  not  be  known. 

WESTERN   EUROPE,  ANCIENTLY    CALLED   AFRICA. 

Major  Wilford's  investigations  led  him  to  remark,  in  the 
8th  volume  of  the  "Asiatic  Researches,"  that  "it  is  well 
known  to  the  learned  that,  at  a  very  remote  period,  Eu- 
rope and  Africa  were  considered  as  but  one  of  two  grand 
divisions  of  the  world,  and  that  the  appellation  Africa  was 
even  extended  to  the  western  parts  of  Europe,  all  along  the 
shores  of  the  Atlantic."  His  fact  will  not  be  questioned ; 
there  may,  however,  be  some  question  relative  to  its  sig- 
nification. He  points  out  that  the  word  Africa  comes  from 
Apar,  Aphar,  Apara,  or  Aparica,  terms  used,  in  times  almost 
forgotten  by  tradition,  to  signify  "  The  West,"  just  as  we 
now,  continuing  the  ancient  method  of  designation,  call 
most  of  the  Asiatic  world  "The  East." 

It  is  only  since  the  time  of  the  Romans  that  the  word 
Africa  has  become  a  name  for  one  of  the  grand  divisions  of 
the  globe.  In  the  most  ancient  times  the  eastern  part  of 
that  grand  division  was  called  "  Sancha,"  a  term  that  still 
remains  in  the  words  Zengh,  Zenghbhar,  Zanguebar,  Zin- 
gis,  and  the  like ;  while  the  northern,  and  especially  the 
northwestern  part,  was  designated  as  Apar,  Aparica,  Afari- 
ca,  and  finally  Africa.  We  must  suppose  that,  in  early  piv- 


376  Pre-IIistoric  Nations. 

historic  times,  Northern  Africa  and  Western  Europe  had 
strongly  engaged  the  attention  of  civilized  nations  in  Asia ; 
that  in  Asia  they  were  described  as  "  The  West ;"  and  that 
this  remote  Western  world  had  risen  to  such  eminence  he- 
cause  it  was,  to  a  large  extent,  occupied  by  civilized  peo- 
ples who  had  made  it  important.  Spain,  as  Heeren  re- 
marksi  "  was  the  Peru  of  antiquity ;"  but  in  that  Western 
world  there  was  much  besides  gold  and  silver  to  command 
attention  and  attract  commercial  enterprise. 

It  seems  to  me  impossible  to  study  the  Greek  literature 
carefully  without  perceiving  that  the  people  on  the  east- 
ern shores  of  the  Mediterranean  knew  more  of  Western 
Europe  in  the  time  of  Homer  than  in  the  time  of  Strabo, 
and  much  more  in  the  ages  previous  to  Homer  than  when 
he  wrote.  I  have  discussed  the  fact  that  many  of  the  old- 
est myths  relate  to  Spain,  Northwestern  Africa,  and  other 
regions  on  the  Atlantic,  such  as  those  concerning  Hercules, 
the  Cronidoe,  the  Hyperboreans,  the  Hesperides,  and  the 
Islands  of  the  Blessed.  Strabo,  while  admitting  that  Ho- 
mer described  the  Atlantic  region  of  Europe  in  his  account 
of  the  wanderings  of  Ulysses,  shows,  nevertheless,  a  very 
remarkable  ignorance  of  that  region,  which  comes  out  in 
what  he  says  of  Ireland,  and  especially  in  his  ill-tempered 
and  coarse  attack  on  Pytheas  of  Massilia,  an  eminent  as- 
tronomer and  navigator,  who,  about  the  time  of  Alexander 
the  Great,  sailed  to  Thule  or  Iceland,  and  to  a  point  in 
Northern  Europe  where,  from  a  mountain,  he  beheld  the 
midnight  sun.  In  the  ages  previous  to  the  decline  of  Phoe- 
nician influence  in  Greece  and  around  the  jiEgean  Sea,  the 
people  of  those  regions  must  have  had  a  much  better  knowl- 
edge of  Western  Europe  than  prevailed  there  (luring  either 
the  Ionian  or  the  Hellenic  period,  when  actual  information 


Diodorus  on  the  Hyperboreans.  377 

seems  to  have  given  place  to  imperfect  recollections  of 
what  had  been  known  in  the  earlier  times.  Diodorus  Sicu- 
lus  (bk.  ii.,  ch.  iii.)  records  some  of  these  recollections  as 
follows : 

"Among  those  who  have  written  old  stories  that  sound 
like  fables,  Hecataeus  and  some  others  say  there  is  an  island 
in  the  ocean,  over  against  Gaul,  where  the  Hyperboreans 
dwell,  so  called  because  they  are  beyond  the  north  wind. 
The  soil  is  very  rich  and  fruitful,  and  the  climate  temper- 
ate. They  say  Latona  was  born  there,  and  that  Apollo  is 
worshipped  in  that  island  above  all  other  gods.  In  very 
ancient  times  the  Hyperboreans  had  a  special  kindness  for 
the  Greeks,  especially  for  the  Athenians  and  the  Delians ; 
and  in  those  times  some  of  the  Greeks  visited  the  Hyper- 
boreans and  left  presents,  and  Abaris,  from  the  Hyperbo- 
reans, traveled  into  Greece,  and  renewed  the  ancient  league 
with  the  Delians."  It  is  said,  also,  that  in  this  island  Apollo 
"had  a  stately  grove  and  a  renowned  temple,  of  a  round 
form,  beautified  with  many  gifts." 

The  story  of  Abaris  is  told  by  other  writers,  and  there 
are  repeated  accounts  of  sacred  embassies  and  offerings 
from  the  Hyperboreans  to  the  temple  at  Delos.  Some  of 
the  Irish  antiquarians,  whose  facts  are  frequently  better 
than  their  judgment,  cite  an  old  Irish  poem  which  describes 
a  journey  of  Abhras  and  others  from  Ireland  to  Greece, 
and  they  claim  that  this  Abhras  was  the  Abaris  of  Heca- 
ta3us.  Probably  the  British  Islands  were  all  known  as  Hy- 
perborean Islands ;  but  that  supposition  seems  most  prob- 
able which  identifies  the  circular  temple  of  Apollo  described 
by  Hecatseus  with  the  great  temple  at  Abury,  in  England. 
The  Arabian  Cushites,  who  created  the  Age  of  Bronze  on 
the  western  shores  and  islands  of  Europe,  must  have  had 


Nations. 

an  accurate  knowledge  of  that  region  many  centuries  be- 
fore the  Aryan  people  became  important  in  Asia  Minor 
and  Greece,  and,  through  their  influence  in  both  regions, 
sacred  embassies  from  the  Hyperboreans  to  Delos  were 
quite  possible.  Apollo,  according  to  Herodotus  the  same 
as  Orus  of  the  Egyptians,  was  a  Cushite  deity,  borrowed 
from  the  Cushites  by  the  Greeks  with  nearly  all  the  rest 
of  their  gods  and  their  mythology,  or  rather  received  with 
many  other  great  gifts  of  the  Cushite  civilization.  Sun- 
worship,  represented  by  Apollo  under  various  names,  was 
likely  to  appear  in  some  form  wherever  the  influence  of 
this  people  was  established. 

THE    OLD   SANSKRIT  BOOKS    ON    WESTERN    EUROPE. 

This  ancient  knowledge  of  Western  Europe  extended  to 
India.  Recollections  of  it  are  recorded  in  the  old  Sanskrit 
books,  of  which  Major  Wilford  gave  an  account  in  the  elev- 
enth volume  of  the  Asiatic  Researches.  The  Brahmanical 
mythology,  as  we  have  it,  combines  the  gods  and  mytho- 
logical legends  brought  into  India  by  the  Aryan  race  with 
those  of  the  Cushites  which  the  invading  Aryans  found 
there.  This  may  explain  why  the  Sanskrit  records  tell  us 
so  much  of  Africa  and  Europe.  According  to  the  Puranic 
traditions,  there  was,  in  very  remote  times,  much  commu- 
nication betwreen  India  and  the  western  part  of  Europe. 
The  Varaha  Purana  describes  that  region  with  the  accu- 
racy of  actual  knowledge.  Wilford,  quoting  this  descrip- 
tion, and  reproducing  an  old  Puranic  map  of  Western 
Europe,  says :  "  Here  we  may  trace  the  Bay  of  Biscay,  the 
German  Sea,  and  the  entrance  into  the  Baltic ;  but,  above 
all,  the  greatest  resemblance  appears  in  the  arrangement 
of  the  British  Islands  and  Iceland ;  this  surely  cannot  be 
merely  accidental." 


Sanskrit  Names  of  Ireland.  379 

England  is  variously  designated,  but  is  usually  called 
Sweta  or  Swetam:  "Sweta-Saila,  or  the  White  Clifl's,  is  oft- 
en used,  which  is  literally  the  Leucas-Petra  of  Homer,  and 
Al-Fioim  in  Gaelic."  Homer  placed  his  Leucas-Petra  at 
the  extremities  of  the  earth,  in  the  ocean,  near  the  setting 
sun.  The  Argonautics,  ascribed  to  Orpheus,  call  England 
Leucon-  Cherson,  the  White  Country,  and  it  is  placed  in  the 
Western  Ocean,  with  lerne  or  Ireland.  The  Sanskrit  "  Su- 
varna-dwipa,  the  land  of  Suvarna  or  of  gold,  is  also  called 
Hiranya,  a  denomination  of  the  same  import.  Hiranya  and 
Suvarneya  are  obviously  the  same  as  lerne,  Erin,  and  Ju- 
vernia,  ancient  names  of  Ireland.  Another  name  for  Ire- 
land is  Surya-dwipa,  Island  of  the  Sun  [or  the  land  of  sun- 
Avorship] ;  and  it  was  probably  the  old  garden  of  Phoebus 
of  the  western  mythologists."  England, "  the  White  Island, 
is  considered  as  the  abode  of  the  mighty;  Havana,  in  the 
Ramayana,  inquires  where  the  mighty  ones  dwell,  and  is 
told  by  Narada  that  they  dwell  in  the  White  Island.  The 
most  ancient  inhabitants  of  Britain,  in  their  romances, 
called  it  the  White  Island,  and  Ynys-y-  Ceideirn,  the  Island 
of  the  Mighty  Ones." 

In  the  Sanskrit  books  the  British  Islands  are  described 
as  "  The  Sacred  Isles  of  the  West,"  The  White  Island,  or 
England,  was  "  the  land  of  Tarpana"  or  of  "  libations  to 
the  Pitris ;"  and  it  seems  to  have  been  the  Therapna3  of 
the  Argonautics.  It  is  called  the  land  of  Tapas,  or  the 
most  proper  country  for  performing  tapasya  (religious  aus- 
terity), which  Wilford  identifies  with  the  blessed  Theba  or 
Thebai  of  the  ancient  Greeks.  "In  the  /Santiparva,one  of 
the  greater  divisions  of  the  Mahabharata,  Narada  goes  to 
Sweta-dwipa,  in  the  far  northwest,  to  worship  the  original 
form  of  N arayana,  which  resides  in  that  island."  Wilford 


380  Pre-11  ixfiu-ii-  X< i.i Ions. 

stated  that,  in  modern  times,  Hindu  pilgrims  have  attempt- 
ed to  visit  the  "Sacred  Islands  of  the  West,"  and  added  : 
"A  Yogi  now  living  is  said  to  have  advanced  with  his 
train  of  pilgrims  as  far  as  Moscow;  but,  annoyed  by  the 
great  and  troublesome  curiosity  of  the  Russians,  he  turned 
back.  He  would  probably  have  been  exposed  to  similar 
inconveniences  in  the  Sacred  Isles,  not  excepting  JBreta- 
sfhan,  or  the  place  of  religious  duty." 

Before  Old  Tyre  was  founded — before  Martti  or  Mara- 
thos  became  the  ruling  city  of  the  people  called  Phoeni- 
cians, it  may  be — in  the  ages  when  Beirut,  Byblos  or  Ge- 
bal,  and  Joppa  or  lopia,  were  the  chief  cities  ofthat  people 
on  the  Eastern  Mediterranean,  or  even  previous  to  the  time 
of  their  greatness — an  important  civilization  had  grown  up 
in  Northwestern  Africa,  in  Spain,  and  in  some  other  places 
on  the  Atlantic  coast  of  Europe,  under  Cushite  influence, 
with  which  the  great  civilized  peoples  of  Southwestern 
Asia  were  well  acquainted.  There  was  constant  communi- 
cation with  that  region  until  this  intercourse  was  inter- 
rupted by  political  changes  throughout  the  Mediterranean 
world,  of  which  history  can  give  no  explanation.  All  this 
was  very  much  older  than  Assyria.  Traces  of  it  remain  in 
the  oldest  myths  and  records  of  Greece,  India,  and  Egypt, 
which,  however,  do  not  fully  reveal  their  significance  to 
those  who  cannot  see  the  antiquity  and  importance  of  the 
Cushite  civilization  of  Arabia.  Its  origin  and  history  were 
doubtless  fully  described  in  the  ancient  Phoenician  records, 
but  the  language  in  which  these  records  were  written  must 
have  become  a  dead  language  before  the  Assyrian  empire 
appeared. 


The  old  Keltic  Civilisation.  381 


THE   ANCIENT   HISTORY    OP   IRELAND. 

The  Keltic  countries  of  Western  Europe,  when  first  in- 
vaded by  the  Romans,  were  all  civilized  countries.  In 
this  respect  their  condition  was  much  higher  than  history, 
directed  by  Roman  influence,  is  accustomed  to  admit.  It 
would  be  unwarranted  and  improbable  assumption  to  sup- 
pose they  had,  at  that  time,  the  highest  condition  of  civil- 
ization they  had  ever  known.  They  must  have  declined 
with  that  decline  of  Phoenician  power  and  commercial  en- 
terprise which  interrupted  their  communication  with  the 
East.  But  they  still  had  intelligence,  wealth,  and  import- 
ance. We  can  see  that  their  skill  in  many  of  the  arts  of 
civilized  life  was  nowise  inferior  to  that  of  the  Romans 
themselves.  -  They  had  a  literature  which,  in  some  of  the 
countries,  was  abundant  and  important,  although  the  Ro- 
mans give  us  no  account  of  it.  If  Roman  scholars  had 
carefully  studied  the  Keltic  language,  literature,  and  an- 
tiquities, and  faithfully  recorded  the  result  of  such  studies, 
we  should  not  now  begin  our  histories  of  Great  Britain 
with  the  invasion  of  Caesar,  nor  would  the  mgst  presuming 
historical  skepticism  fail  to  treat  the  ancient  history  of 
that  part  of  Europe  with  some  respect. 

In  the  time  of  Julius  Caesar,  Turdetania  and  Ireland  ap- 
pear to  have  had  the  most  advanced  condition  of  the  Keltic 
civilization.  Turdetania,  like  most  of  the  Keltic  countries 
in  Spain  and  elsewhere  on  the  Continent,  became  entirely 
Romanized.  The  Turdetani  forgot  their  language,  lost 
their  literature,  changed  their  manners,  and  were  so  entire- 
ly transformed  by  the  conquerors  that  Strabo  said  of  them, 
"they  have,  for  the  most  part,  become  Latins."  The  Ro- 
mans did  not  go  to  Ireland,  although,  in  their  time,  its  com- 


382  Pre-ITistoric  Nations. 

raerce,  wealth,  and  culture  made  it  the  most  important  of 
the  Keltic  countries.  On  this  point  Tacitus  says,  in  his 
life  of  Agricola:  "Melius  (Hibemia3  quam  Britannia?)  adi- 
tus  portusque  per  commercia  et  negociatores  cogniti ;"  that 
is  to  say,  "the  ports  of  Ireland  are  better  known  through 
commerce,  and  more  frequented  by  merchants,  than  those 
of  Britain." 

Ireland  escaped  the  destructive  influence  of  a  Roman  in- 
vasion, outlived  the  Roman  empire,  and  maintained  its  in- 
dependence until  the  time  of  Henry  Second  of  England — 
more  than  1200  years  after  the  invasion  of  Britain  by  Ju- 
lius Caesar,  and  about  750  years  after  the  Romans  retired 
from  that  country.  It  retained  its  Keltic  institutions,  laws, 
and  literature  for  more  than  1200  years  after  all  the  other 
Keltic  countries  had  been  subjugated  and  transformed. 
There  was  but  little  internal  change  in  Ireland  for  a  long 
time  after  the  princes  of  that  country,  with  their  king,  sub- 
mitted to  the  sway  of  Henry  Second.  The  old  Irish  lan- 
guage has  not  yet  wholly  disappeared  from  the  country, 
and  it  is  not  very  long  since  it  was  the  prevalent  speech 
in  all  the  provinces. 

This  explains  why  the  Keltic  antiquities  and  ancient 
writings  have  appeared  to  be  so  much  more  abundant  in 
Ireland  than  elsewhere,  and  why  Toland  was  able  to  say, 
with  so  much  truth, "There  remain  [in  Ireland]  very  many 
ancient  manuscripts  undoubtedly  genuine,"  and  the  Irish 
"  have  incomparably  more  ancient  materials  of  that  kind 
for  their  history,  to  which  even  their  mythology  is  not  un- 
serviceable, than  either  the  English  or  the  French,  or  any 
other  European  nation  with  whose  manuscripts  I  have  any 
acquaintance."  In  Gaul  and  Spain  the  destruction  was 
nearly  complete  eighteen  hundred  years  ago.  In  Britain, 


The  Irish  and  Welsh  Books.  383 

which  was  not  wholly  transformed  by  the  Roman  occupa- 
tion, no  remaining  literary  monuments  of  any  importance 
escaped  the  influence  of  the  fierce  and  successful  Anglo- 
Saxon  invasion.  Gilclas,  who  wrote  in  the  sixth  century, 
stated  that  the  old  Keltic  histories  of  Britain  no  longer  ex- 
isted in  his  time,  all  the  ancient  books  having  been  de- 
stroyed by  the  ravage  of  war,  or  taken  to  foreign  countries 
and  lost  by  self-exiled  or  banished  natives  of  the  island. 
The  Welsh  books  are  comparatively  modern,  and  of  no 
great  account  so  far  as  relates  to  British  antiquity;  but 
the  Irish  books  show  us,  to  some  extent,  the  history,  insti- 
tutions, and  culture  of  that  country  in  very  ancient  times ; 
and  we  can  see  in  them  the  truth  of  Toland's  statement, 
that  "  the  most  valuable  pieces  [of  the  Irish],  both  in  prose 
and  verse,  were  written  by  their  heathen  ancestors,  whereof 
some,  indeed,  have  been  interpolated  since  the  introduction 
of  Christianity,  which  additions  or  alterations,  neverthe- 
less, are  easily  detected." 

If  we  had  nothing  more  than  that  important  collection 
of  laws  known  as  the  Senchus-Mor  or  Brehon  laws,  there 
would  be  enough  to  show  the  antiquity  of  the  old  Irish 
civilization  and  literature.  This  collection  is  older  than 
the  Christian  Era,  yet  it  must  have  been  the  growth  of 
many  previous  ages  of  civilized  life.  The  language  in 
which  it  was  written  seems  to  have  become  a  dead  lan- 
guage in  the  fifth  century,  when  it  was  revised,  "purged 
of  heathenism,"  and  rendered  into  the  current  Irish  of  that 
age,  under  the  superintendence  of  Bishop  Patricius,  usually 
called  St.  Patrick,  although  the  true  St.  Patrick  lived  more 
than  three  centuries  earlier.*  This  expurgating  Patricius, 

*  It  is  not  certain  that  Patricius  had  anything  to  do  with  this  revision 
of  the  Brehon  Laws,  or  that  he  staid  long  in  Ireland.  He  did  not  change 


384:  P  re-Historic  Nations. 

or  some  other  fanatic,  did  more ;  be  collected  and  commit- 
ted to  the  flames  a  vast  number  of  the  ancient  books,  de- 
siring, with  barbarous  fanaticism,  to  wipe  out  and  hide 
from  remembrance  everything  that  related  to  the  Druid- 
ical  learning  and  religion.  The  language  of  this  revision 
of  the  Senchus-Mor  was  itself  antiquated  and  dead  in  the 
time  of  Henry  Second,  but  the  work  was  studied  and  u.-<-<.I 
long  after  that  time.  It  has  lately  been  translated  into 
English. 

The  Irish  historical  books  have  preserved  a  regular  li>t 
of  the  kings  of  Ireland  from  the  earliest  times,  with  brief 
annals  of  each  reign;  136  kings  previous  to  the  arrival  of 
Bishop  Patricius  in  the  year  432  A.D.  are  enumerated,  all 
royally  descended  except  one,  who  "  was  a  plebeian  called 
Carbry  Caithean.  Brief  annals,  kept  regularly  from  year 
to  year,  seem  to  have  been  very  abundant  in  the  olden 
limes,  for  every  local  prince,  as  well  as  the  king,  had  his 
Ollamh  to  write  such  records.  Keating  says,  in  his  history 
of  Ireland,  "  It  is  evident  that  in  former  times  there  were 
constantly  more  than  200  principal  annalists  and  historians 
in  the  kingdom,  who  had  handsome  revenues.  Every  no- 
bleman of  any  quality  retained  a  number  of  these  learned 
men."  The  old  annals,  reproduced  and  continued  from 
age  to  age  by  these  men,  were  used  by  waiters  of  more  ex- 
tensive histories;  but  in  the  year  1630  A.D.  they  had  suf- 
fered greatly  by  the  waste  of  time.  In  that  year  a  learned 
Irish  nobleman,  Ferall  O'Gara,  took  measures  to  secure  a 
careful  compilation  of  such  as  then  remained.  The  work 
was  done  by  four  Irish  monks.  This  compilation,  known 

the  Irish  Church,  which  was  three  centuries  older  than  his  time.  Some 
antiquarians  doubt  his  existence  ;  but  he  was  probably  the  same  Patricia* 
who  was  afterwards  bishop  of  Auvergnc. 


The  oldest  People  of  Ireland.  355 

as  "Annals  of  the  Kingdom  of  Ireland,  by  the  Four  Mas- 
ters," has  been  printed  in  seven  quarto  volumes,  with  the 
Irish  text  on  one  page  and  an  English  translation  opposite. 
All  the  histories  of  Ireland  give  substantially  the  same 
account  of  the  early  times,  and  of  the  kings  who  reigned 
previous  to  the  Christian  Era.  The  greatest  event  de- 
scribed in  Irish  ancient  history  is  the  conquest  of  the  island 
by  "  the  sons  of  Milidh"  or  Milesius,  who  came  from  Spain 
with  a  large  fleet  and  a  strong  army.  According  to  the 
chronology  of  the  "  Four  Masters,"  this  took  place  about 
the  year  1700  B.C.;  but  more  probable  accounts  fix  the 
date  nearly  four  centuries  later.  These  Milesians  had  been 
preceded  by  other  successful  invaders.  The  earliest  com- 
pany of  invading  immigrants  are  described  as  "Parthalon's 
people,"  who  found  in  the  island  a  people  called  Fomho- 
raicc,  Fom'oraig  Afraic,  and  Formoragh,  rendered  into 
English  as  Formorians.  These  Formorians  are  sometimes 

o 

described  as  "  natives,"  and  sometimes  it  is  said  that  they 
came  in  ships  to  fight  Parthalon's  people  and  subsequent 
invaders.  The  uniform  representation  is  that  they  came 
originally  from  Africa.  It  may  be  supposed  that  they  rep- 
resent the  first  communities  established  or  civilized  in  Ire- 
land by  immigrants  from  the  Phoenician  or  Cushite  settle- 
ments in  Africa  or  Spain.  They  treated  Parthalon's  people 
with  invincible  hostility.  After  about  thirty  years,  Par- 
thalon  died  of  a  wound  received  in  battle  with  them,  and 
his  colony  became  extinct. 

The  next  invading  immigrants  were  led  by  Neimhidh, 
who  captured  a  stronghold  of  the  Formorians ;  but  after  a 
short  time  the  fortress  was  retaken  by  More,  the  Formo- 
rian  leader,  who  had  "  a  fleet  of  sixty  ships,  and  a  strong 
army."  This  defeat  was  so  overwhelming  to  Neimhidk 

R 


386  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

that  most  of  his  people  fled  from  the  island  to  Britain.  A 
long  period  elapsed — about  400  years  some  of  the  accounts 
say — before  there  was  another  invasion.  Then  came  the 
Fir-Bolgs,  a  strong  people  divided  into  three  tribes,  and 
called  Fir-Bolgs  from  the  name  of  the  principal  tribe. 
They  conquered  the  whole  island,  and  divided  it  into  five 
provinces ;  a  division,  say  the  Irish  writers,  that  has  never 
been  seriously  disturbed,  excepting  that  what  is  now  Mun- 
ster  was  then  divided  into  two  provinces.  But  the  rule 
of  the  Fir-Bolgs  lasted  only  3  7  years,  during  which  time 
they  had  nine  kings,  who  appear  in  the  lists  as  the  first 
nine  kings  of  Ireland.  They  were  displaced  by  the  Tuatha- 
de-Dananns,  a  people  evidently  more  advanced  in  civiliza- 
tion than  any  of  the  previous  invaders,  who  came  with  a 
powerful  army,  and  overthrew  the  Fir-Bolgs  in  a  great  bat- 
tle that  is  famous  in  the  Irish  Annals.  Nuadha,  king  of 
the  Tuatha-de-Dananns,  lost  his  hand  in  this  battle,  and 
"  Creidne,  the  artificer,  put  a  silver  hand  upon  him."  All 
accounts  agree  in  saying  the  rule  of  the  Tuatha-de-Da- 
nanns  lasted  19*7  years,  and  that  they  had  nine  kings,  of 
whom  the  last  three  reigned  jointly.  Their  dominion  was 
overthrown  by  the  sons  of  Milidh. 

It  can  be  seen  in  all  these  narratives  that,  in  the  earliest 
times  to  which  the  records  relate,  Africa,  Spain,  and  other 
countries  had  commei'cial  intercourse  with  Ireland.  The 
great  pi-ovocation  that  led  the  people  of  Spain,  frequently 
called  Milesians  in  the  Annals,  to  invade  the  island,  was 
received  during  a  friendly  visit  of  some  of  their  people  to 
the  Tuatha-de-Dananns.  They  conquered  the  whole  isl- 
and, and  held  it  until  Ireland  ceased  to  be  an  independent 
kingdom.  Their  language  and  culture  were  made  pre- 
dominant, being  gradually  adopted  by  all  the  races  and 


Irish  Ancient  History  neglected.  387 

peoples  in  the  island.  These  Milesians  were  Kelts;  but 
some  of  the  earlier  invasions  must  have  taken  place  pre- 
vious to  that  Aryan  immigration  into  Western  Europe 
which,  by  absorbing  the  civilized  Finnish  and  Cushite  peo- 
ples found  there,  in  Spain,  Gaul,  and  the  British  Islands, 
created  the  Keltic  race.  Perhaps  the  Milesians  were  the 
first  Kelts  that  appeared  in  Ireland. 

It  is  not  creditable  to  English  scholarship  that  those 
who  represent  it  have  given  no  more  attention  to  the  old 
language  and  literature  of  Ireland,  but  the  explanation  is 
not  difficult.  We  find  it  in  that  invincible  scorn  and  dis- 
dain of  the  English  for  everything  Irish  by  which  the  rela- 
tion between  the  two  countries  has  been  made  so  unprofit- 
able to  both,  and  so  injurious  to  Ireland  ill  all  respects. 
Without  friendly  and  careful  investigation,  it  has  been 
rudely  assumed  that  the  Irish  language  and  literature 
were  not  worth  attention ;  therefore  they  have  been  neg- 
lected. It  is  to  be  lamented  that  this  important  field  was 
not  worked  carefully  two  or  three  centuries  ago,  when  the 
old  manuscripts  were  more  abundant  and  the  language 
was  in  general  use  among  the  Irish,  for  much  has  been 
lost.  Without  accepting  either  the  dates,  the  glosses,  or 
the  ethnical  speculations  of  the  later  Irish  writers,  we  must 
admit  that  the  general  outline  and  main  facts  of  Irish  his- 
tory furnished  by  the  old  records  of  the  country  cannot 
reasonably  be  discredited  nor  shown  to  be  improbable. 
On  the  contrary,  they  are  in  harmony  with  what  we  know, 
or  may  reasonably  presume,  concerning  Western  Europe 
in  pre-historic  times.  The  monuments  of  the  Age  of 
Bronze,  as  well  as  what  we  know  of  the  antiquity  and  the 
colonizing  enterprise  of  the  Arabian  Cushites,  make  this 
Irish  claim  to  antiquity  probable,  and  forbid  us  to  treat  it 


388  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

with  such  contempt  as  has  been  so  largely  bestowed  upon 
it.  This  is  a  case  where  contemptuous  skepticism  dishon- 
ors those  only  who  indulge  it. 

We  know  very  well,  without  reading  the  Irish  Annals, 
that  Ireland  was  an  independent  nation,  having  its  own 
kings,  institutions,  and  civilization  more  than  two  thou- 
sand years  ago,  and  that  it  remained  so  until  its  princes, 
moved  by  papal  influence,  submitted  to  the  English.  It 
was  an  independent  monarchy  in  the  time  of  the  Romans. 
Ptolemy  described  its  cities ;  Tacitus  mentioned  its  import- 
ance ;  and  it  is  prominently  mentioned  by  writers  of  earlier 
ages.  We  cannot  reasonably  discredit  that  portion  of  the 
Irish  Annals  which  relates  to  the  ages  since  the  Romans 
began  their  subjugation  of  the  Keltic  countries ;  nothing 
but  the  intolerance  of  contemptuous  prejudice  is  capable 
of  doing  this.  It  is  no  more  reasonable  to  reject  the  Irish 
claim  to  antiquity,  and  treat  with  disdain  the  older  annals 
of  the  country. 

The  Irish  people  seem  to  have  reached  the  highest  con- 
dition of  their  civilization  and  culture  in  the  time  of  the 
great  sovereign  known  in  their  annals  as  Ollamh  Fodhla, 
who  reigned  long  before  the  Christian  Era ;  but  they  were 
eminent  for  culture  in  times  as  late  as  the  Norman  Con- 
quest of  England.  No  one  familiar  with  what  is  recorded 
of  the  history  of  England  between  the  time  of  Hengist  and 
that  of  William  the  Conqueror  has  failed  to  observe  that 
Ireland  at  that  time  was  the  most  enlightened  country  of 
Western  Europe.  It  had  the  best  scholars  and  the  most 
advanced  condition  of  learning.  Mosheim  says  in  his  Ec- 
clesiastical History, "  The  philosophy  and  logic  taught  in 
the  European  schools  in  the  ninth  century  scarcely  de- 
served such  honorable  titles,  and  were  little  better  than 


Oraik  on  the  Keltic  Tongue.  389 

empty  jargon.  There  were,  however,  to  be  found  in  vari- 
ous places,  particularly  among  the  Irish,  men  of  acute  parts 
and  extensive  knowledge,  who  were  well  entitled  to  be 
called  philosophers."  Among  the  learned  Irishmen  of  that 
age  was  the  celebrated  Scotus.  Gildas,  according  to  his  bi- 
ographer, went  to  Ireland  for  education,  and  studied  in  its 
schools  "  the  highest  forms  of  philosophy  and  literature  ;" 
and  Camden  tells  us  that  "  the  Saxons,  from  all  places, 
flocked  to  Ireland  as  the  emporium  of  letters."  If  the  Nor- 
mans had  failed  to  conquer  England,  the  language  and  cul- 
ture of  the  English  race  would  now  be  different,  and  we 
should  have  been  taught  greater  respect  for  the  language, 
antiquities,  ancient  history,  and  old  literature  of  the  Irish 
race. 

THE   KELTIC   LANGUAGE. 

Philologists  arrange  the  known  Keltic  tongues  in  two 
divisions :  the  Gadhelic,  embracing  the  Irish,  the  Gaelic  of 
Scotland,  and  the  dialect  of  the  Isle  of  Man ;  and  the  Cym- 
ric, comprising  the  Welsh,  the  Cornish,  and  the  Armorican 
of  Brittany.  There  may  have  been  other  branches  of  this 
family  that  became  extinct  under  Roman  influence.  The 
language  of  the  Kelts — after  much  doubt  concerning  its 
character,  that  has  been  removed  by  careful  investigation 
— is  now  classed  as  a  branch  of  the  Aryan  family.  Its  Ary- 
an characteristics  were  not  immediately  obvious.  Profess- 
or Craik,  in  his  "  Manual  of  English  Literature,"  says : 
"  Probably  any  other  two  languages  of  the  entire  multi- 
tude held  to  be  of  this  general  stock  [Indo-European  or 
Aryan]  would  unite  more  readily  than  two  of  which  only 
one  is  Celtic.  It  would  be  nearly  the  same  case  with  that 
of  the  intermixture  of  an  Indo-European  with  a  Semitic 


390  Pre-Historlc  Nations. 

language.  It  has  been  suggested  that  the  Celtic  branch 
must,  in  all  probability,  have  diverged  from  the  common 
stem  at  a  much  earlier  date  than  any  of  the  others." 

An  accomplished  American  scholar,  Professor  Whitney 
speaking  of  Professor  Schleicher's  scheme  of  relationship 
for  all  branches  of  the  Aryan  family,  observes  that  the  po- 
sition assigned  in  it  to  the  Keltic  languages  repels  rather 
than  attracts  assent.  According  to  Professor  Schleicher, 
their  development  was  later  than  that  of  most  other  branch- 
es of  the  family,  and  they  are  more  closely  related  to  Latin 
than  to  any  other  Aryan  tongue.  This  close  relationship 
of  the  Aryan  elements  of  the  Keltic  speech  to  that  of  the 
Latins  cannot  be  denied ;  the  more  carefully  and  thorough- 
ly the  two  languages  are  compared,  the  more  clearly  will 
this  fact  be  presented  to  the  investigator.  It  suggests  that 
the  Aryan  people,  whose  influence  in  Western  Europe  cre- 
ated Keltica  and  the  Keltic  tongues,  were  Pelasgians  from 
Italy.  These  Pelasgians  found  in  those  Western  countries 
a  people  of  another  race,  who,  long  before  their  arrival, 
had  been  civilized  by  the  Arabian  Cushites.  What  hap- 
pened in  England  at  a  later  period,  when  the  Saxons  and 
Norman  French  were  brought  together  in  that  country, 
must  have  occurred  in  this  case,  with  results  still  more  re- 
markable, for  here  the  peoples  were  not  of  the  same  race. 
There  was  a  fusion  of  two  races,  and  of  two  languages  that 
did  not  belong  to  the  same  family.  This  fusion  developed 
the  Keltic  tongues.  The  Pelasgian  language,  while  retain- 
ing most  of  its  fundamental  characteristics,  and  thus  pre- 
serving its  relationship  to  the  Aryan  family,  was,  to  a  great 
extent,  transformed.  It  became  the  Keltic  tongue.  The 
decay  and  new  growth  that  obscured  its  Aryan  features 
may  thus  be  explained,  without  assuming  that  the  Keltic 


The  Aryans  in  Western  Europe.  391 

tongues  constitute  a  branch  of  the  Aryan  family,  which 
"  separated  from  the  common  stem  at  a  much  earlier  date 
than  any  of  the  others." 

Keltica  consisted  only  of  Gaul,  Spain,  and  the  British 
Islands.  According  to  the  Irish  records,  the  Keltic  peo- 
ple and  language  went  to  Ireland  from  Spain,  and  from 
Ireland  to  Scotland.  They  may  have  gone  to  England  and 
Wales  from  Gaul.  In  Spain  and  a  portion  of  Southern 
France  the  fusion  of  races  and  tongues  was  never  com- 
plete. Large  communities  of  the  old  Iberian  people,  now 
represented  by  the  Basques,  were  entirely  unaffected  by  it. 
This  may  have  been  due  not  only  to  the  position  of  the 
districts  they  inhabited,  but  also  to  some  difference  in  blood 
and  language,  caused  by  important  changes  in  the  other 
Iberian  communities,  which  did  not  reach  the  Basques,  but 
left  them  to  represent  more  accurately  the  speech  and  blood 
of  the  earlier  ages.  An  authentic  record  of  the  ancient 
times  would  explain  much  that  is  now  left  to  conjecture. 
Even  a  history  of  the  Keltic  tongues  would  give  us  im- 
portant historical  information.  But  we  have  no  such  his- 
tory, and  no  trace  of  any  Keltic  dialect  that  does  not  be- 
long to  either  the  Gadhelic  or  the  Cymric  family.  It  may 
be  that  the  Gadhelic  family  represents  the  language  as  it 
was  spoken  in  Spain,  and  the  Cymric  the  form  in  which  it 
appeared  in  Gaul ;  but  our  knowledge  of  the  Keltic  speech, 
which  is  limited  to  the  Irish  and  Welsh,  with  a  few  kindred 
dialects,  does  not  allow  us  to  speak  on  this  point  with  any 
degree  of  certainty. 

There  was  no  such  fusion  of  tongues  in  any  other  coun- 
try of  Western  Europe.  The  other  branches  of  the  Aryan 
family  kept  their  language  free  from  corrupting  mixtures. 
In  some  cases  they  fiercely  expelled  the  old  inhabitants  of 


392  Pre-Historlc  Nations. 

the  countries  where  they  settled.  So  it  was  in  Scandina- 
via, where  the  old  Norse  immigrants  treated  the  Finns 
with  perpetual  hostility,  and  described  them  as  "jotuns," 
demons,  beings  of  an  accursed  race.  There  is  no  record  or 
tradition  that  tells  when  the  first  group  of  the  Aryan  race 
appeared  in  Central  or  Western  Europe.  The  people  rep- 
resented by  the  Lithuanians  and  the  Letts  appear  to  have 
been  the  earliest  immigrants ;  the  old  Prussians  belonged 
to  this  group.  Next  probably  came  the  Slavonians,  who 
settled  in  Poland  and  other  countries  of  Central  Europe. 
The  Teutonic  family,  including  several  distinct  groups, 
came  later  to  the  countries  where  history  found  them.  It 
may  be  that  all  these  immigrations  preceded  that  of  the 
Pelasgians  into  Spain  and  Gaul,  but  it  does  not  seem  prob- 
able that  any  group  of  the  Teutonic  family  appeared  in 
Sweden,  Denmark,  or  even  Germany,  previous  to  the  be- 
ginning of  the  Keltic  age.  It  is  more  likely  that  this  fam- 
ily came  latest,  and  that  it  arrived  in  Germany  and  the 
more  Western  countries  but  a  few  centuries  in  advance  of 
the  Roman  invasion,  or  at  a  period  considerably  later  than 
the  beginning  of  the  Age  of  Iron.  All  these  families  of 
the  Aryan  race,  however,  may  have  been  in  Eastern  Eu- 
rope a  long  time  before  any  of  them  appeared  at  the  West. 

ANCIENT   COMMUNICATION   WITH   AMERICA. 

Was  America  known  to  the  ancients?  I  shall  not  un- 
dertake here  a  full  discussion  of  this  question,  which  re- 
quires a  careful  consideration  of  the  monuments  and  liter- 
ary remains  of  the  ancient  civilizations  found  in  America 
when  this  continent  was  discovered  by  Columbus.  What 
I  have  to  say  on  the  subject  will  be  limited  to  a  brief  state- 
ment of  the  grounds  on  which  those  whose  inquiries  have 


The  Cushite  Religion  in  America.  393 

been  conducted  with  most  care  and  intelligence  believe 
there  was  communication  between  the  Old  World  and 
America  in  very  remote  times.  They  find  the  evidence  of 
this  communication  in  the  ruins  and  traditions  of  the  an- 
cient American  civilizations,  as  well  as  in  the  traditions 
and  myths  of  classical  antiquity.  We  will  begin  with 
what  is  found  in  America. 

1.  The  antiquities  of  Mexico  and  Central  America  reveal 
religious  symbols,  devices,  and  ideas  nearly  identical  with 
those  found  in  all  countries  of  the  Old  World  where  Cush- 
ite communities  formerly  existed.  They  show  us  planet 
worship,  with  its  usual  orphic  and  phallic  accompaniments. 
Humboldt,  having  traveled  in  America,  and  observed  re- 
mains of  these  civilizations,  was  convinced  that  such  com- 
munication formerly  existed.  He  found  evidence  of  it  in 
the  religious  symbols,  the  architecture,  the  hieroglyphics, 
and  the  social  customs  made  manifest  by  the  ruins,  which 
he  was  sure  came  from  the  other  side  of  the  ocean ;  and, 
in  his  view,  the  date  of  this  communication  was  older  than 
"  the  present  division  of  Asia  into  Chinese,  Mongols,  Hin- 
dus," etc.  [See  his  "Researches  concerning  the  Institutions 
and  Monuments  of  the  Ancient  People  of  America."]  Hum- 
boldt did  not  observe  symbols  of  the  phallic  worship,  but 
the  Abbe  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg  shows  that  they  were 
described  by  Spanish  writers  at  the  time  of  the  Conquest. 
He  points  out  that  they  were  prevalent  in  the  countries 
of  Mexico  and  Central  America,  being  very  abundant  at 
Colhuacan  on  the  Gulf  of  California,  and  at  Panuco.  Col- 
huacan  was  a  flourishing  city,  and  the  capital  of  an  im- 
portant kingdom ;  "  there,"  he  says,  "  phallic  institutions 
had  existed  from  time  immemorial."  At  Panuco  phallic 
symbols  abounded  in  the  temples  and  on  the  public  mon- 
R2 


394  Pi'c-IIiatori-G  Nations. 

uments.  These,  with  the  serpent  devices,  the  sun  worship, 
and  the  remarkable  knowledge  of  astronomy  that  existed 
in  connection  with  them,  show  a  system  of  religion  of  which 
the  Abbe  is  constrained  to  say:  "Asia  appears  to  have 
been  the  cradle  of  this  religion,  and  of  the  social  institu- 
tutions  which  it  consecrated."  The  Abbe  Brasseur  de 
Bourbourg  has  studied  American  antiquities  more  pro- 
foundly than  any  other  investigator.  He  has  a  \7ery  im- 
portant collection  of  the  books  of  the  ancient  people  of 
Mexico  and  Central  America,  one  of  which,  "  The  Popol 
Vuh,"  he  has  translated  into  French  ;  and  he  has  written 
in  the  same  language,  and  published  in  four  octavo  vol- 
umes, a  "  History  of  the  Civilized  Nations  of  Mexico  and 
Central  America  during  the  Ages  before  Christopher  Co- 
lumbus," the  materials  for  the  work  being  taken  from  the 
old  books  he  has  collected  or  examined. 

2.  The  traditions  of  these  countries  are  still  more  ex- 
plicit. Their  uniform  testimony  is,  that  the  ancient  Amer- 
ican civilization  came  originally  from  the  East  across  the 
ocean.  In  Sahagun's  history,  it  is  stated  that,  according 
to  the  traditions  of  the  people  of  Yucatan,  the  original  civ- 
ilizers  came  in  ships  from  the  East  A  similar  tradition 
was  communicated  to  the  Spaniards  by  Montezuma.  The 
Abbe  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg,  speaking  of  the  earliest  civ- 
ilization of  the  Mexicans  and  Central  Americans,  says : 
"  The  native  traditions  generally  attribute  it  to  bearded 
white  men,  who  came  across  the  ocean  from  the  east." 
The  native  histories  he  has  examined  describe  three  classes 
of  ancient  inhabitants.  First,  the  Chichimece,  who  seem 
to  have  been  the  uncivilized  aborigines  of  the  country; 
second,  the  Colhuas,  who  were  the  first  civilizers,  and  by 
whom  the  Chichimecs  were  taught  to  cultivate  the  earth, 


Ancient  American  Traditions.  395 

cook  their  food,  and  adopt  the  usages  of  civilized  life ;  and, 
third,  the  Nahuas  or  Toltecs,  who  came  much  later  as 
peaceable  immigrants,  but  after  a  time  united  with  un- 
civilized Chichimecs,  caused  a  civil  war,  and  secured  power. 
The  Colhuas  were  the  bearded  white  men,  who  came  in  the 
earliest  times  across  the  Atlantic.  They  built  Palenque 
and  other  cities,  originated  the  oldest  and  finest  monu- 
ments of  the  ancient  civilization,  and  established  the  great 
kingdom  of  Xibalba,  which  is  celebrated  in  the  histories 
and  traditions.  It  comprised  Guatemala,  Chiapas,  Yuca- 
tan, and  probably  other  countries.  Desire  Charnay,  speak- 
ing of  the  ruins  at  Mitla,  points  out  that  the  most  ancient 
architecture,  paintings,  mosaics,  and  artistic  designs  are  in 
the  highest  style,  and  show  "marvelous  workmanship," 
while  the  later  additions  are  in  a  much  lower  style,  and 
seem  to  be  the  work  of  a  people  less  advanced  in  culture 
and  skill  than  the  original  founders  of  the  city.  The  finest 
and  most  remarkable  monuments  in  these  countries  seem 
to  be  remains  of  that  ancient  kingdom  of  Xibalba.  It  is 
said  repeatedly  that "  the  Colhuas  came  from  beyond  the 
sea,  and  directly  from  the  east."  The  Abbe  makes  this 
statement  also:  "There  was  a  constant  tradition  among 
the  people  who  dwelt  on  the  Pacific  Ocean  that  people 
from  distant  nations  beyond  the  Pacific  formerly  came  to 
trade  at  the  ports  of  Coatulco  and  Pechugui,  which  be- 
longed to  the  kingdom  of  Tehuantepec."  The  traditions 
of  Peru  told  of  people  who  came  to  that  country  by  sea, 
and  landed  on  the  Pacific  coast.  The  reader  will  remem- 
ber that  there  was  anciently  a  great  maritime  empire  of 
the  Malays,  and  that  dialects  of  the  Malay  language  are 
scattered  across  the  Pacific  Ocean  as  far  as  Easter  Island. 
Such,  very  briefly  stated,  are  the  chief  points  in  the  tes- 


396  Pre-IIistoric  Nations. 

timony  of  the  antiquities  and  traditions  found  in  America. 
We  will  now  turn  to  the  ancient  myths  and  traditions  of 
the  Old  World. 

In  the  traditions,  legends,  and  mythical  geography  of 
the  ancients,  there  is  much  that  has  no  meaning  if  it  does 
not  preserve  vague  recollections  of  very  ancient  knowl- 
edge of  America.  The  mythical  references  to  a  great  con- 
tinent beyond  the  "  Cronian  Sea,"  meaning  the  Atlantic., 
Plutarch's  mention  of  a  great  Cronian  or  Saturnian  con- 
tinent, the  Atlantis  of  Solon  and  Plato,  and  the  Merope 
of  Theopompus,  all  belong  to  a  circle  of  very  ancient  tra- 
ditions, with  which  many  are  familiar.  There  is  nothing 
in  the  history  of  the  human  mind  that  allows  us  to  treat 
them  as  pure  fictions.  The  mythical  story  of  the  Atlantic 
Island  which  Solon  brought  from  Egypt  was  not  entirely 
new  in  Greece.  The  invasion  of  the  East,  to  which  it  re- 
fers, seems  to  have  given  rise  to  the  Panathensea,  the  old- 
est, greatest,  and  most  splendid  festivals  in  honor  of  Athe- 
na celebrated  in  Attica.  These  festivals  are  said  to  have 
been  established  by  Erichthonius  in  the  most  ancient  times 
remembered  by  the  historical  traditions  of  Athens.  Boeckh 
says  of  them  in  his  Commentary  on  Plato  : 

"In  the  greater  Panathenrea  there  was  carried  in  proces- 
sion a  peplum  of  Minerva,  representing  the  war  with  the 
giants  and  the  victory  of  the  gods  of  Olympus.  In  the 
lesser  Panathenrea  they  carried  another  peplum  [covered 
with  symbolic  devices],  which  showed  how  the  Athenians, 
supported  by  Minerva,  had  the  advantage  in  the  war  with 
the  Atlantes."  A  scholia  quoted  from  Proclus  by  Hum- 
boldt  and  Boeckh  says,  "  The  historians  who  speak  of  the 
islands  of  the  exterior  sea  tell  us  that  in  their  time  there 
were  seven  islands  consecrated  to  Proserpine,  and  three 


Atlantis  and  Xibalba.  391 

others  of  immense  extent,  of  which  the  first  was  consecrated 
to  Pluto,  the  second  to  Ammon,  and  the  third  to  Neptune. 
The  inhabitants  of  the  latter  had  preserved  a  recollection 
(transmitted  to  them  by  their  ancestors)  of  the  island  of 
Atlantis,  which  was  extremely  large,  and  for  a  long  time 
held  sway  over  all  the  islands  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  At- 
lantis also  was  consecrated  to  Neptune."  [See  Humboldt's 
Histoire  de  la  Geographic  du  Nouveau  Continent,  vol.  i.] 

The  knowledge  of  America  signified  by  these  myths  and 
traditions  must  be  referred  to  a  very  remote  antiquity — to 
a  period  as  much  older  than  the  time  of  the  Tyrians  as  that 
of  the  first  civilization  of  Spain  and  Northwestern  Africa 
was  older  than  the  building  of  Gades.  If,  as  seems  prob- 
able, this  knowledge  was  a  reality,  the  people  who  com- 
municated with  America  must  have  gone  from  the  great 
nation  created  on  the  Western  Mediterranean  by  the  ear- 
liest Cushite  communities  established  in  that  region.  If 
that  communication  lasted  a  thousand  years,  the  age  in 
which  it  was  discontinued  would  have  been  mythical  long 
before  the  time  when  the  Tyrians  began  to  establish  settle- 
ments at  the  West.  What  we  know  of  the  rise  and  de- 
cline of  important  nations,  and  of  the  great  political  chan- 
ges to  which  such  nations  are  liable,  suggests  how  it  may 
have  been  interrupted.  The  Goths  and  Vandals  did  not 
continue  the  great  enterprises  of  the  Romans.  There  may 
have  been  dark  as  well  as  bright  ages  in  the  history  of 
these  great  countries  at  the  West. 

De  Bourbourg,  in  one  of  the  notes  of  the  Introduction  to 
his  translation  of  the  Popol-Vuh,  which  gives  a  mythical 
history  of  very  ancient  times  in  Central  America,  presents 
for  consideration  a  remarkable  analogy  between  the  king- 
dom of  Xibalba  and  the  mythical  account  of  the  island  of 
Atlantis.  He  savs : 


398  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

"Without  seeking  to  advance  any  particular  opinion 
on  the  subject,  it  seems  to  me  useful  to  call  the  reader's 
attention  to  the  analogies  presented  between  the  empire 
of  Xibalba  and  that  of  Atlantis  as  described  in  Plato's 
Critias.  Both  countries  are  magnificent,  exceedingly  fer- 
tile, and  abound  in  the  precious  metals ;  the  empire  of  At- 
lantis was  divided  into  ten  kingdoms,  governed  by  five 
couples  of  twin  sons  of  Poseidon,  the  eldest  being  supreme 
over  the  others ;  and  the  ten  constituted  a  tribunal  that 
managed  the  affairs  of  the  empire.  Their  descendants  gov- 
erned after  them.  The  ten  kings  of  Xibalba,  who  reigned 
[in  couples]  under  Hun-Came  and  Vukub-Came  [and  who 
together  constituted  a  grand  council  of  the  kingdom],  cer- 
tainly furnish  curious  points  of  comparison.  And  there  is 
wanting  neither  a  catastrophe  [for  Xibalba  had  a  terrific 
inundation]  nor  the  name  of  Atlas,  of  which  the  etymol- 
ogy is  found  only  in  the  Nahuatl  tongue ;  it  comes  from 
all,  water,  and  we  know  that  a  city  ofAtlan,  Near  the  Wa- 
ter, still  existed  on  the  Atlantic  side  of  the  Isthmus  of 
Panama  at  the  time  of  the  Conquest." 

In  Peru,  as  in  the  countries  comprised  in  that  ancient 
kingdom  of  Xibalba,  the  oldest  civilization  was  the  most 
advanced,  and  had  the  highest  style  of  art  and  mechanical 
skill.  Here,  too,  the  oldest  structures  were  attributed  to 
bearded  white  men,  who,  it  is  said,  worked  stone  with  iron 
implements  brought  from  their  own  country.  The  tradi- 
tions call  them  "  sons  of  the  sea."  It  is  a  remarkable  fact, 
not  generally  known,  that  the  Incas  worked  iron  mines  on 
the  east  side  of  Lake  Titicaca.  [See  Introduction  to  Po- 
pol-Vuh,  p.  224.]  Planet  worship,  temples  of  the  sun,  and 
great  knowledge  of  astronomy  existed  in  Peru  at  a  very 
early  period.  Montesinos  and  De  Bourbourg  say  the  Pe- 


Phoenicians  find  America.  399 

ruvians  had  an  accurate  measure  of  the  solar  year,  and  a 
knowledge  of  the  art  of  writing,  together  with  paper  made 
of  banana  leaves, "  at  least  1800  years  before  our  era."  De 
Bourbourg  thinks  large  numbers  of  Colhuas  may  have  mi- 
grated from  Central  America  to  Peru. 

There  is  in  Diodorus  Siculus,  book  v.,  chap,  ii.,  an  im- 
portant passage  concerning  America  which  is  not  myth- 
ical, and  seems  to  be  given  as  a  historical  fact  rather  than 
as  a  tradition.  He  says :  "  Over  against  Africa  lies  a  very 
great  island  in  the  vast  ocean,  many  clays'  sail  from  Libya 
westward.  The  soil  is  very  fruitful.  It  is  diversified  with 
mountains  and  pleasant  vales,  and  the  towns  are  adorned 
with  stately  buildings."  After  describing 'the  gardens,  or- 
chards, and  fountains,  he  tells  how  this  pleasant  country 
was  discovered.  The  Phoenicians,  he  says,  having  built 
Gades,  sailed  along  the  Atlantic  coast  of  Africa.  A  Phoe- 
nician ship,  voyaging  down  this  coast,  was, "  on  a  sudden, 
driven  by  a  furious  storm  far  into  the  main  ocean;  and, 
after  they  had  lain  under  this  tempest  many  days,  they  at 
length  arrived  at  this  island."  There  have  been  attempts 
to  believe  that  the  great  land  of  civilized  people  thus  dis- 
covered was  either  the  Cassiterides  or  one  of  the  Canary 
Islands.  Look  on  the  map,  and  judge  whether  such  a  be- 
lief is  possible  to  a  reasonable  mind.  The  land  reached  by 
the  Phoenicians  of  that  tempest-driven  ship  is  more  likely 
to  have  been  some  part  of  Central  America  or  Yucatan, 
where  at  that  time  stood  the  great  cities  now  in  ruins. 

There  is  a  similar  statement  in  a  work  attributed  to  Aris- 
totle (de  Mirab.  Auscult.},  in  which  the  discovery  is  as- 
cribed to  the  Carthaginians ;  but  the  statement  of  Diodorus 
is  most  particular,  and  evidently  most  correct.  Humboldt 
\La  Geographic,  du  Nouveau  Continent^.  191]  cites  a  pas- 


400  Pre-Historic  Nations. 

sage  of  Plutarch,  in  which  he  thinks,  with  Ortelius,  that 
not  only  the  Antilles,  but  the  American  continent  itself, 
is  described,  for  it  is  the  "  Great  Continent"  of  which  he 
speaks  beyond  the  ocean ;  and  one  of  the  speakers  in  the 
dialogue  gives  an  account  of  what  was  told  of  the  Satur- 
nian  Continent  by  a  stranger  who  came  from  it  to  Car- 
thage. 

The  extract  from  Theopompus  relating  to  America  is  fa- 
miliar to  scholars,  but  not,  perhaps,  to  general  readers. 
^Elian,  in  his  "  Varia  Historia"  [book  iii.,  chap,  xviii.],  tells 
us  that  Theopompus  related  the  particulars  of  an  interview 
between  Midas,  king  of  Phrygia,  and  Silenus,  in  which  Si- 
lenus  reported  the  existence  of  a  great  continent  beyond 
the  Atlantic  "  larger  than  Asia,  Europe,  and  Libya  togeth- 
er." He  stated  that  a  race  of  men,  called  Meropes,  dwelt 
there,  and  had  extensive  cities.  The  statement  of  Theo- 
pompus went  on  to  say  that  the  Meropes  were  persuaded 
that  their  country  alone  was  a  continent.  Out  of  curiosi- 
ty, some  of  them  crossed  the  ocean  and  visited  the  Hyper- 
boreans. De  Bourbourg,  referring  to  those  who  talk  of 
these  distinct  references  to  America  as  "  fictions,"  says  very 
justly,  "If  the  story  of  Theopompus  is  a  fiction,  it  is,  like 
'The  Incas'  of  Marmontel,  founded  on  fact." 

It  is  now  a  historical  fact  that  the  Northmen,  sailing 
from  Iceland,  not  only  discovered  America  in  the  tenth 
century,  but  also  established  colonies  on  the  coast  of  New 
England,  and  that  they  preserved  communication  with 
these  colonies  for  two  centuries.  Most  readers  are  familiar 
with  the  story  of  these  discoveries  and  settlements  of  the 
Northmen.  It  is  not  so  well  known,  but  is,  nevertheless, 
quite  true,  that  they  were  preceded  in  Iceland  by  the  Irish, 
and  in  voyages  to  America  by  the  Irish  and  the  Basques 


Eastern  Asia  and  America.  401 

The  Basques,  being  adventurous  fishermen,  and  extensively 
engaged  in  the  whale  fishery,  were  accustomed  to  visit  the 
northeast  coast  of  America  long  before  the  time  of  Colum- 
bus, and  probably  "  from  time  immemorial."  [See  Michel's 
"Les  Pays  Basques,"  and  De  Bourbourg's  Introduction.] 
There  is  no  scarcity  of  reports  and  traditions  of  Irish  voy- 
ages to  America,  but  I  will  do  no  more  than  cite  a  fact  re- 
corded by  the  Abbe  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg  in  a  note  to 
his  translation  of  the  Popol-Vuh.  He  says : 

"  There  is  an  abundance  of  legends  and  traditions  con- 
cerning the  passage  of  the  Irish  into  America,  and  their 
habitual  communication  with  that  continent  many  centu- 
ries before  the  time  of  Columbus.  We  should  bear  in  mind 
that  Ireland  was  colonized  by  the  Phoenicians  [or  by  peo- 
ple of  that  race].  An  Irish  saint,  named  Vigile,  who  lived 
in  the  eighth  century,  was  accused  to  Pope  Zachary  of 
having  taught  heresies  on  the  subject  of  the  antipodes.  At 
first  he  wrote  to  the  pope  in  reply  to  the  charge,  but  aft- 
erwards he  went  to  Rome  in  person  to  justify  himself, 
and  there  he  proved  to  the  pope  that  the  Irish  had  been 
accustomed  to  communicate  with  a  trans-Atlantic  world." 
This  fact  seems  to  have  been  preserved  in  the  records  of 
the  Vatican. 

It  is  known  that  knowledge  of  the  American  continent 
existed  in  China  and  Japan  long  before  the  time  of  Colum- 
bus. The  Abbe  de  Bourbourg  says  in  his  Introduction  to 
the  Popol-Vuh, "  It  has  been  known  to  scholars  nearly  a 
century  that  the  Chinese  were  acquainted  with  the  Ameri- 
can continent  in  the  fifth  century  of  our  era.  Their  ships 
visited  it.  They  called  it  Fa- Sang,  and  said  it  was  situ- 
ated at  the  distance  of  20,000  U  from  Ta-Han."  M.  Leon 
de  Rosny  has  ascertained  that  Fusing  is  the  topic  of  "  a 


402  P  re-Historic  Nations. 

curious  notice  in  the  Wa-Jcan-san-ta'i-dzon-yV  (which  is  the 
name  of  the  great  Japanese  Encyclopaedia).  In  that  work 
Fusang  is  said  to  be  situated  east  of  Japan,  beyond  the 
ocean,  at  the  distance  of  about  20,000  li  (7000  miles  or 
more)  from  Ta-nan-kouek.  De  Bourbourg,  who  quotes  the 
notice,  adds :  "  Readers  who  may  desire  to  make  compari- 
sons between  the  Japanese  description  ofFusang  and  some 
country  in  America  will  find  astonishing  analogies  in  the 
countries  described  by  Castaneda  and  Fra  Marcos  de  Xiza, 
in  the  province  of  Cibola." 

The  Chinese  and  Japanese  do  not  give  us  myths ;  they 
tell  us  what  they  have  actually-  known  for  many  centuries. 
The  Welsh  prince  Madog,  about  the  year  1170  A.D.,  was 
just  as  certain  of  the  existence  of  America  when  "  he  sailed 
away  westward,  going  south  of  Ireland,"  to  find  a  land  of 
refuge  from  the  civil  war  among  his  countrymen.  The 
Welsh  annals  tell  us  that  he  .found  the  land  he  sought. 
Having  made  preparations  for  a  settlement,  he  returned  to 
Wales,  secured  a  large  company  that  "  filled  ten  ships," 
and  then  sailed  away  again,  and  "never  returned."  In 
1660,  Rev.  Morgan  Jones,  a  Welsh  clergyman,  seeking  to 
go  by  land  from  South  Carolina  to  Roanoke,  was  captured 
by  the  Tuscarora  Indians.  He  declares  that  his  life  was 
spared  because  he  spoke  Welsh,  which  some  of  the  Indians 
understood ;  that  he  was  able  to  converse  with  them  in 
Welsh,  though  with  some  difficulty ;  and  that  he  remained 
with  them  four  months,  sometimes  preaching  to  them  in 
Welsh.  John  Williams,  LL.D.,  who  reproduced  the  state- 
ment of  Mr.  Jones  in  his  work  on  the  story  of  Prince  Ma- 
dog's  emigration,  published  in  1791,  explained  it  by  assum- 
ing that  Prince  Madog  settled  in  North  Carolina,  and  that 
the  Welsh  colony,  after  being  weakened,  was  incorporated 


Ancient  America  still  undiscovered.          403 

with  these  Indians.  If  we  may  believe  the  story  of  Mr. 
Jones  (and.  I  cannot  find  that  his  veracity  was  questioned 
at  the  time),  it  will  seem  necessary  to  accept  this  explana- 
tion. It  will  be  recollected  that,  in  the  early  colony  times, 
the  Tuscaroras  were  sometimes  called  "  White  Indians." 
The  Northmen  had  settlements  in  New  England  long  be- 
fore Prince  Madog's  colony  went  to  America. 

But  I  must  leave  this  topic,  which  requires  a  volume 
instead  of  a  few  pages.  The  Abb6  de  Bourbourg  thinks 
ancient  America  "  is  still  to  be  discovered."  Perhaps  he 
will  advance  the  discovery  by  finding  means  to  interpret 
the  inscriptions  at  Palenque.  Certainly  there  is  nothing 
unreasonable  or  improbable  in  the  supposition  that  the 
countries  on  the  Western  Mediterranean,  associated  in  the 
myths  with  Atlas  and  the  Atlantides,  communicated  with 
America  in  very  remote  antiquity;  nor  is  it  improbable  that 
there  was  communication  across  the  Pacific.  The  objec- 
tions raised  against  it  come  chiefly  from  the  gratuitous  as- 
sumption that  such  enterprise  was  impossible  in  ancient 
times,  and  from  the  influence  of  thought  and  imagination 
preoccupied,  perhaps  unconsciously,  by  an  invincible  de- 
termination to  deny  it.  • 


GENERAL  INDEX. 


[The  figures  in  this  Index  refer  to  pages.] 


Auxins  the  Hyperborean,  377 ;  Irish  anti- 
quaries on  Abaris,  377. 

Abraham  and  Hebrew,  140. 

Abury,  its  ruins  of  a  vast  temple,  15,  300 ; 
this  temple  belonged  to  the  first  period 
of  the  Age  of  Bronze,  300;  described 
by  Aubrey,  360 ;  by  Hecatteus,  377. 


Ad  and  his  contemporaries,  78 ;  nothing  Alphabetical  writing,  91-94;   the  styles 


Arabian  older  than  Ad,  104 ;  he  repre- 
sents the  oldest  Arabian  civilization, 
104,105;  political  periods  between  Ad 
and  the  Himyarites,  104-100, 115. 

Africa  not  a  continent  of  savage  negroes, 
300 ;  our  knowledge  of  the  interior  re- 
cent, 300,  325;  negroes  chiefly  on  the 
Guinea  coast,  307,  309 ;  races  in  Africa, 
307-311 ;  exploration  proceeds  from  the 
north  and  east,  307;  the  brown  race 
most,  numerous  in  Africa,  308;  African 
ancient  history,  320 ;  the  Africans  make 
and  work  iron,  and  have  arts  of  civili- 
zation, 320-328 ;  mixtnre  of  races  in  Af- 
rica, 330,  331 ;  written  histories  of  Cen- 
tral African  kingdoms,  329 ;  the  Gallas, 
823;  the  Wahuma,331;  the  Fi'ilans, 
ISarth's  statement,  332;  Eichwaldt  and 
Earth  on  their  origin,  332,  333 ;  more 
civilization  in  Africa  formerly  than 
now,  333-337;  North  Africa  in  ancient 
times,  335-337 ;  what  the  Portuguese 
found  in  East  Africa,  334;  navigation 
around  Africa  in  ancient  times,  345-350; 
origin  of  the  name  Africa,  375. 

Age  of  Bronze  in  Western  Europe,  358- 
301 ;  it  began  on  the  West  Coast,  303 ; 
ft  foreign  people  introduced  it,  302,  364 ; 
it  was  of  long  duration,  359,  361 ;  bronze 
implies  civilization,  362;  antiquity  of 
the  Bronze  Age,  302,  364,  367 ;  was  in- 
troduced by  the  ancient  Phoenicians  or 
Cushites,  355,  365-367 ;  it  reveals  Baal 
worship,  Cushite  manufactures,  etc., 
365,  306 ;  it  was  contemporary  with  a 
much  higher  and  older  civilization  in 
Spain  and  Southern  France,  369;  its 
oldest  remains  show  the  highest  man- 
ufacturing skill,  305. 

Age  of  Iron  traced  in  the  Danish  peat, 
301;  was  much  older  than  Roman  times, 


359;  was  introduced  by  the  Tyrians, 
3EO,  367. 

Age  of  Stone,  it  has  two  or  three  periods, 
359 ;  its  latest  period  shows  civilization, 
359,  360,  368 ;  it  was  contemporary  in 
Eastern  Switzerland  with  bronze  at  the 
West,  363. 


used  anciently  all  from  one  source,  91 ; 
the  Phoenicians  and  Egyptians  on  its 


pti 
l) 


origin,  91, 92 ;  SirWilliam  Drummond's 
theory,  92 ;  Sir  Henry  Rawlinson's  state- 
ment, 92,  93 ;  alphabetic  writing  orig- 
inated in  Arabia,  93 ;  it  was  preceded  by 
hieroglyphics,  92,  93 ;  the  art.  of  writing 
in  Egypt,  93, 94 ;  six  styles  of  cuneiform 
writing,  93  ;  the  oldest  known  form  of 
the  Cushite  alphabet,  90, 94;  the  names 
nnd  forms  of  the  letters  show  their  or- 
igin in  hieroglyphics,  94 ;  Pliny  on  the 


orig_in  of  alphabetic  writing,  94. 
America  discovered  by  Asiatics  in  pre- 
historic times,  205,  395,  401, 402 ;  Atlan- 
tis meant  America,  354,  397, 398  ;  Mexi- 
can and  Central  American  traditions 
indicate  ancient  communication  be- 
tween America  and  countries  east  of 
the  Atlantic,  392-395,  397 ;  planet  wor- 
ship and  phallic  symbols  in  America, 
393;  tradition  in  Yucatan,  394;  the 
three  ancient  races,  394;  the  Colhuas 
who  came  first  in  ships  were  bearded 
white  men,  394;  they  built  Palenque 
and  the  oldest  and  finest  monuments, 

394,  395;  the  earliest  ancient  civiliza- 
tion in  America  the  most  advanced, 

395,  398  ;  legends,  traditions,  and  myth- 
ical geography  of  the  ancients,  395-400 ; 
the  Athenian  Panathensea  and  Atlan- 
tis, 390;  Proclus,  396;  a  Phoenician  ves- 
sel finds  America,  399 ;  Aristotle  and 
Plutarch,  399 ;  statement  of  Theopom- 
pus,  from  yElian.  400 ;  the  Northmen  in 
America,  400 ;  the  Irish  and  Basques, 
400, 401 ;    Vigile   on  Irish  voyages  to 
America,  401 ;  Chinese  and  Japanese 
statements,  401 ;    Prince  Madog   and 
America,  402 ;  Rev.  Morgan  Jones  and 
the  "  Welsh  Indians,"  402 ;  the  Cushite 


406 


Index. 


people  on  the  Western  Mediterranean;    Egyptian  Science,  116,  177;  Dr.  Lon« 
must  have  gone  to  America,  397,  403  ;     on  Aristotle  and  Eudoxns,  176 ;  An^- 
how  the  communication  was  interrupt-     totle  on  ancient  knowledge  of  Amer- 
ed,397;  antiquity  of  ancient  knowledge     ica,  399. 
of  America,  397.  Aruaud's  visit  to  the  ruins  of  Saba  and 

Ancient  History,  how  it  is  embarrassed,      the  dike  A  rim,  S3, 84. 
23;  ancient  tiistory  of  Arabia,  95-117;  Aryan  or  Iranian  ancient  history,  36,24"- 
of  Iliras  or  Iran,  36,  243-247 ;  ancient!    247;  iaqaby  embarraaeed  by  ieftusal  to 
historical  works  that  are  lost,  130;  ofj    see  it,  243;   how  it  is  mutilated,  244; 
Ireland,  3S2.  j    a  "brilliant"  scheme  of  Anqueiil   tin 

Antiquity  of  civilization  and  science,  30, !  Perron,  244;  the  kingdom  of  Hira*  \\-\\  it 
31,  110-125;  antiquity  of  man  under-,  its  "fourteen  settlements"  and  its  cap- 
rated,  25 ;  antiquity  denied  because  "so!  ital  at  liui  kh,  244-246 ;  dates  in  Iranian 
far  off,"  127, 128, 135.  .  |  history,  245;  the  Zend  and  San.-krit. 

Arabia  a  very  ancient  seat  of  civilization,!  Aryans  dwelt  together  in  the  kingdom 
21,  49,  60,  56,  57,  66,  67,  76,  86;  the  nn-j  of  Hiras,  246:  the  whole  Aryan  family 
cient  Ethiopia,  57-63;  origin  of  the!  together  under  the  dynasty  of  Abad, 
term  Ethiopia,  57,  5S  ;  Hebrew  Scrip-!  246;  the  Vedic  race  dwelt  tirst  in  Haptu- 
tiires  on  Arabia,  68,  59 ;  earliest  civili-  Hindu,  246,  247 ;  Richardson's  trouble 
zation  in  Arabia,  61,  62 ;  Arabia  misun-  with  Aryan  history.  246,  247. 
derstood,  67-69 ;  Wellsted,  Forster,  Ptol-  Aryans  in  Europe,  order  of  their  com  in; 
emy,  and  El  Edrisi  on  Arabia,  63,  69  ;' 
Palgrave  on  Central  Arabia,  69-72 ;  its 
settled  population,  kingdoms,  cities, 
and  condition,  70-72;  the  nomads  few 
and  unimportant,  70;  the  desert  dis- 
tricts formerly  cultivated,  72,  73 ;  its  an- 
cient capacity  for  colonizing  enterprise, 
73 ;  the  two  races  in  Arabia,  73-78 ;  its 
ancient  language,  74,  75;  its  superior 
geographical  position,  6C,  67 ;  its  pres- 
ent isolation  explained,  6S;  Arabian 
ruins  and  inscriptions,  80-83;  Arabian 


ii'yi,  392;  the  Pelasgiaus  came  throujAi 
Italy  and  mixed  with  the  old  race  in 
Gaul  and  Spain,  3UO,  392 ;  this  fusion 
created  Kcltica  and  the  Keltic  tongue.-, 
31)0;  the  Lithuanians,  Slavonians,  and 
Teutons  came  through  Central  Europe, 
391 ;  may  have  stopped  long  at  the  East 
before  coming  West,  392;  Ihc  Aryan 
tongues  in  Central  and  Northern  Eu- 
rope unmixed  with  those  of  the  old 
race, 391. 
Assyria,  its  origin,  190,  204 ;  its  rise  to 


inscriptions  in  El  Harrah,  86,  87 ;  Pal-!    empire,  204,  214 ;   it  changed  the  lau- 

f  rave  »  notice  of  Arabian  antiquities,  j     guage  of  Chaldea,  205. 
7;  ancient  science  originated  in  Ara-  Astronomy  in  ancient  times,  116-120;  its 
bia,  118;  its  nautical  science,  120-125  ;j    Arabian  origin,  118;    the  " 


later  Arabi- 
an astronomy.  119;  suppose  the  great 
Babylonian  observatory  had  been  at 
Athens,  117;  astronomy  in  China,  119, 
120 ;  astronomical  observations  at  Bab- 
ylon, 175, 176  ;  Dr.  Long  on  these  dis- 
coveries, 176 ;  Greek  astronomy  came 
from  Egypt  and  the  East,  179;  the 
ancients  had  aids  to  eyesight,  178, 17'J ; 
lens  found  at  Babylon,  178. 


the  mariner's  compass,  121-1.':;, 
mathematical  science  and  the  nine  dig- 
its came  from  Arabia,  119  ;  Vincent  on 
Arabian  enterprise,  219 ;  the  Arabians 
in  Africa,  324. 

Arabian  Ancient  History  lost,  95;  weird 
influence  of  Arabian  antiquity,  95,  96: 
its  extent,  97 ;  what  linguistic  and  ar- 

chffiological  science  say  of  it,  96 ;  hypo-     _. , 

thetical  scheme  of  Arabian  ancient  his-  Athens  learned  of  Ionia,  44,  45. 
tory,  96-99;  its  grand  period,  97 ;  its  pe- 
riods of  decline,  97-99 ;  the  Greeks  fail-  Baal  in  Western  Europe,  365. 
ed  to  study  Arabia,  99, 100 ;  what  they  Babylon,  that  of  the  ancient  Greeks  was 
said  of  it,  100, 101 ;   Arabian  tradition!     at"  Niffer,  189,  190,  19S, -200  ;  the  more 
on  the  past,  102-108  ;  Mahometan  writ-     modern  Babylon  of  Nebuchadnezzar, 
ers  of  Arabian  history,  102-104;  frag- 
ments of  Arabian  ancient  history,  108-, 
112 :  Zohak  and  the  "  Median"  dynasty  Bancii  tin  mines,  365. 
of  Berosus,  108-110,  212;  Schamar-Iar-  Barbara  descril>ed,279;  this  ancient  name 
asch  and  his  conquests  in  Central  Asia,      in  North  Africa,  the  Berbers,  279. 
110,  111 ;  political  disintegration  in  Ara-  Bardesanes  quoted,  230. 
bia,  105-107;    Afrikis,  111  ;    Harith-e!-  Barth  on  iron-making  in  Africa,  327;  on 
Raisch,  111,112;  Dionysos  and  Kephe-     African  manufactures,  -s-.'S;    on  ruins 


201 ;  and  of  the  later  kingdom  of  Chal- 
dea, 213. 


Aristotle,  his  notice    of  CbaU'.eaa   and     with  Telasg'aus,  36S,  369,  S1U;  their  Ian- 


Index. 


407 


gnage,  369;  their  navigatiou,  400;  their 
civilization,  3T4. 

Berbers,  their  political  system,  112  ;  ori- 
gin of  the  name,  280 ;  they  represent 
the  old  Cushite  communities  in  North 
Africa,  338,  344 ;  Leo's  account  of  them, 
339 ;  they  read  and  write,  340 ;  accounts 
of  them  by  travelers,  340-343 ;  they  oc- 
cupy all  North  Africa  away  from  the 
coast,  340  ;  the  M'Zabs,  their  confeder- 
acy and  their  books,  342,  343 ;  their 


of  onr  race,  £56 ;  how  it  was  overthrowu 
in  India,  250,  257 ;  Sakhya-Muni  was 
merely  the  oracle  of  one  very  popular 
development  of  Buddhism,  257;  the 
Saivas  were  more  ancient  Buddhists, 
257,  25S ;  the  Chinese  Fa-hian  ou  the 
more  ancient  Buddhas,  255,  25C. 

Bunfcen  on  the  date  of  man's  creation. 
25,  26 ;  on  Chaldean  chronology,  207, 
208  ;  on  Egyptian  antiquity,  298,  305. 

Burnonf  on  the  Saivile  Tantias,  235 ;  per- 


plexed by  the  intimate  relations  of 
Buddhism  and  Siva-worship,  255;  his 
notice  of  the  "Seven  Bnddhas,  255;  his 
statement  concerning  the  Saivite  divin- 
ities, 253. 


Egyptian  style,  343 ;  their  history,  343  ; 

th~e  Touaricks,  340-342. 
Belkis,  queen  of  Saba,  84,  85. 
Berosus  on  the  "Arabian"  dynasty  in 

Chaldea,  111;   his  history  of  Chaldea, 

1SJ-185;  his  dynastic  list,lS2-184;  dog- 
matic chronology  on  Berosus,  182-1S5  ;iChaldea   and  the  Greek?,  173-176,180; 

he  enumerated  163 Chaldean  kings  pre-     Chaldea  discovered  in  its  ruins,  174; 

vious  to  Assyria,  181 ;  Berosus  on  the 

origin  of  Chaldean  civilization,  1S6;  his 

history  confirmed,  190,  191;   he  shows 

two  great  periods  of  Chaldean  history, 

208. 
Brahmanism,  where  first  developed,  250 ; 

Maim  on  Brahmiivartta,  250,  251 ;  Brah- 

maiiism  in  Kikata,  252 ;  ancient  Brah- 


manism very  unlike  the  Vedic  religior, 
250;  very  unlike  modern  Brahmanism, 
253,  254,  257,  25S ;  how  Buddhism  grew 


Chaldean  astronomy,  175-179;  Chalde- 
an history  by  Berosus,  1SO-1S5  ;  Chal- 
dea much  more  ancient  than  Assyria, 
180,  190;  the  Cushites  were  first  in 
Chaldea,  184  ;  Chaldean  traditions  and 
antiquities,  185-191 ;  tradition  of  Can- 
nes, 186, 187;  the  Turanian  hobby,  186; 
Chaldean  ruins  and  inscriptions,  188- 
191 ;  present  condition  of  the  country, 
188,  189;  the  ruins  of  four  cities  ex- 
plored, 189-191 ;  Cushite  origin  of  Chal- 


to  power,  256;  Brahmauism  never  wend    dea,  192, 193  ;  language  of  Chaldea,  194- 


to  Ceylon,  £06;  modern  Brahmnnism 
explained,  258-260 ;  its  eclectic  policy, 
258,289,378;  its  union  with  Siva-wor- 
ehip  not  perfect,  222,  258,  '259. 
Brasseur  de  Bourbourg,  his  study  of 
American  antiquities,  393,  394;  trans- 
lated the  Popol-Vuh,  394;  his  compari- 
son of  the  government  of  Atlantis  with 
that  of  Xibalba  in  Central  America, 


Central  American  traditions,  394;  of 
phallic  worship,  393 ;  of  Peruvian  tradi- 
tions and  antiquities,  398  ;  of  Vigile's 
statement,  401. 

British  Islands  called  Hyperboreaa,  377; 
described  in  Sanskrit" books,  378,  379; 
Sanskrit  name  of  Ireland.  379  ;  tlie  Sa- 
cred Isles  of  the  West,  379  ;  a  Yogi's  at- 
tempt to  visit  them,  3SO. 


196;  discussed  by  Kenan  and  the  French 
philologists,  194,195;  political  and  lin- 

§uistic  changes  in  Chaldea,  196-199, 
94,205;  it  may  have  begun  4662  B.C., 
196 ;  Tower  of  Babel,  198 ;  Nipnr,  the 
more  ancient  Babylon,  the  capital  in 
the  great  days  of  Chaldea,  198 ;  Nimrod 
and  this  capital,  193, 199 ;  the  year  2234 
B.C.  discussed.  199-202;  a  Sin  dynasty 


397,  398;   his  account  of  Mexican  and     in  Chaldea,  198;  history  of  an  old  tem- 


ple, 202,  203 ;  Babylonia  became  subor- 
dinate to  Assyria,  204,  205;  Chaldea 
misunderstood  because  it  is  not  seen, 
206;  Chaldean  history  and  chronolo- 
gy considered,  206-214;  a  hypothetical 
scheme  of  the  history,  209-214;  time  of 
the  old  kingdom,  207,  209-211 ;  the  later 
kingdom,  212,  213. 
China,  its  civilization,  15 ;  its  history  and 


Buddhism,  its  probable  origin,  statement:    historical  vyorks,  37, 38 ;  its  chronology, 
of  James  Bird,  224;  it  did  not  originate1    38;  the  Chinese  cycle  of  60  years,  wneu 
the  rock-temples,  233-236 ;  the  Buddh-l    established,  38 ;  China  invaded  by  an 
ism  of  Sakhya-Muni  very  different  from!    Arabian  king,  110,  111. 
the  Siva  worship  of  the  rock-temples, 'Chronology  discussed,   24-38;   Rolliu's 
235;  Burnouf  on  Buddhism  and  the  Sai-j    chronological  difficulty,  24;  the  past  is 
vite  Tantras,  235  ;  how  Buddhism  was 
originated  in  Kikata,  or  Maghada,  252, 
253 ;  it  was  later  than  ancient  Brahman- 
ism,  but  older  than  modern  Brahman- 


ism,  253, 254 ;  older  than  Sakhya-Muni, ! 
254;  many  previous  Buddhas, '.'55 ;  Bnr- 
nouf  and'Wilson  on  the  Buddhas,  2.15; 
Buddhism  now  the  religion  cf  a  third 


larger  than  the  current  chronologies 
admit — Bunseu's  view,  25,  26;  the  busi- 
ness of  making  schemes  of  chronology, 
20 ;  the  current  chronologies  have  mo- 
used and  insulted  the  Bible,  27-20 ; 
"biblical"  chronologists  disagree,  27: 
the  dicta  of  Maurice,  28 ;  Christianity 
wronged  by  these  chronologists,  i'J; 


408 


Index. 


considerations  that  should  have  check-;    ite  religion  traced  in  India,  220-227  ; 
ed  this  chronological  dogmatism,  30-33;!    Siva  a  Cushite  god,  221 ;  Cushite  politi- 
it  has  been  powerful  to  discredit  factsj    cal  system  in  India,  225,  226 ;  the  Cush- 
and  dates,  33,  34 ;  its  absurdities,  34-30 ;  j    ites  in  Africa,  322-320 ;  Cnshite  dialects 
its  relations  with  Chinese  history  must     in  Africa,  323 ;  Cnshite  traces  in  Amer- 
be  adjusted,  37-39 ;  Egyptian  chronolo-     ica,  393. 
gy,  32-34 ;  chronological  stupidity  con-| 
cerning  the  dike  Arim,  85;  concerning  Development  theory  can  not  admit  very 

the  time  of  Zoroaster,  34-37;  concern-}    ancient  civilizations,  62 ;   its  

ing  Arabian  history,  104, 107, 108 ;  con- 
cerning Gades,  157;  chronology  emends 
Berosus,   182-185,  191 ;    chronological 
dogmatism  on  Manetho,  269,  270. 
Civilization,  where  did  it  begin  ?  11 ;  its 


tions,  62;  geology  has  no  favor  for  it, 
53;  the  Eugis  skull  described,  63 ;  this 
theory  admitted  to  be  unproved  hy- 
pothesis, 53;  if  we  must  have  a  hypoth- 
esis, let  it  be  nobler,  54,  313. 


history,  11-13  :  its  earliest  mauifesta-  Dionysos,  what  he  represents  in  the  past, 
lion  in  Asia,  15, 1C;  the  oldest  peoples!  112,  285;  howthe  legends  describe  nini, 
mentioned  in  history  did  not  originate  283  ;  an  old  ante-Ionian  book  on  Di(,- 


their  civilization,  55;  they  had  it  from 
a  common  source,  66;  Arabia  civilized 
Chaldea,  Egypt,  and  India,  56 ;  civiliza- 
tion of  the  Tyrians,  153;  civilization, 
since  the  first  ages,  usually  aided  by 
external  influences,  299;  traces  of  for- 
mer civilization  in  Africa,  320-329  ;  an 
old  civilization  in  Western  Europe,  351, 
352 ;  a  very  ancient  civilization  in  Spain 
and  Northwestern  Africa,  355, 364 ;  and 
in  America,  394,  395. 

Clinton's  Fasti  Hellcnici  on  Pelasgian 
dates,  164, 105. 

Craniology  criticised,  3CS. 

Curt  ins,  Ernst,  on  the  Greek  race,  151 ; 
hi*  vie\y  of  the  chronological  order  of 
Phoenician  colonies,  155. 

Cusha-dwipa  of  Sanskrit  geography  the 
same  as  Ethiopia  of  the  ancient  Greeks, 
05  :  an  African  Cusha-dwipa,  04 ;  it  in- 
cludes the  Mountains  of  the  Moon,  65. 

Cushites  the  first  known  civilizers.  17-19, 
97 ;  their  great  periods  had  closed  many 
ages  before  Homer's  time,  51,  79 ;  the 
Phoenicians  were  a  portion  of  the  great 
people  of  Arabia,  94, 129, 133, 135;  did 
the  Cushites  originate  civilization  f  96; 
Cn.-hite  literature,  how  lost,  102;  Arabia 
the  Land  of  Cush,  18,  68,  59,  63-66,  96 ; 
the  Cushites  the  oldest  race  in  Arabia, 
74;  vastness  of  their  antiquity,  95,  90; 
the  grand  period  of  their  history,  97; 
they  were  the  first  civilizers  and  build- 
ers in  Southwestern  Asia,  66,  67;  orig- 
inally twelve  tribal  communities,  78 ; 
pure  Cushites  now  nearly  extinct,  79, 
315 ;  Palgrave's  opinion  of  the  race,  79, 
80;  the  Cushites  originated  science, 
116 ;  the  Cushite  religion  and  architect- 
ure, 141-145 ;  Cushite  colonies  in  North- 
western Africa  and  Spain  very  ancient, 
152,  153;  Cushites  civilized  Chaldea, 
192, 194;  a  Cushite  family  of  tongues, 
195;  the  Cushites  preceded  the  San- 
skrit race  in  India,  218-227:  Kawlin- 
Bon's  testimony,  220;  testimony  of 
archaeological  research,  219-227  ;  Cu^-h- 


nysos,  2S3,  284;  Fresnel  on  Dionjeoa 
and  Nysa,  285, 280  ;  Dionysos  not  Ra"m;i, 
286;  he  was  the  I)eva  Nahusha  of  In- 
dian tradition,  286-288,  290;  contempo- 
rary with  Indrn,  287 ;  his  city  in  India, 
287;  Professor  Wilson  on  Dionysos  and 
Bacchus,  2SS;  Dionysos  belonged  to 
ante-Sanskrit  history,  291 ;  Dionysos  in 
Egypt,  291,  295;  Megasthenes  on  hie 
history  and  date,  297. 
Dravidian  people  and  tongues,  2S8-242 ; 
these  tongues  radically  different  from 
Sanskrit,  238,  239 ;  they  represent  the 
ante-Sanskrit  speech  of  the  country, 
238-240 ;  their  use  of  the  word  Mag  or 
Mac,  240  ;  the  speech  of  the  Tudas  and 
hill  tribes  belongs  to  this  family,  238. 
239 ;  the  Sanskrit  writers  call  this 
speech  Deti,  238 ;  Sanskrit  not  now  rep- 
resented in  India  as  the  old  speech  is 
represented  by  these  tongues,  240 ;  how 
the  modern  Indian  dialects  grew  up, 
241 ;  probable  origin  of  the  Dravidian 
tongues,  241 ;  these  tongues  and  the 
Basque,  369. 

Egypt  an  incontestable  fact,  267;  Mane- 
tho's  history,  208,  269;  his  dynastic  list 
and  dates,  208,  269 ;  how  dogmatic  chro- 
nology has  treated  them,  269,  270 ;  the 
"  Old  Chronicle"  and  the  "  Sothis"  spu- 
rious works,  270 ;  Lepsius  and  Mariette 
on  Egypt,  271 ;  origin  of  the  Egyptian*, 
271-274  ;  Sir  Gardner  Wilkinson  on  this 
point,  273;  comprehension  of  Arabia 
removes  difficulty,  273 ;  common  origin 
of  Chaldeans  and  Egyptians  shown  by 
their  writing,  Sir  Henry  Rawliiison, 
Lepsius,  273,  274;  the  ancient  Arabians 
colonized  Egypt,  272,  274,  275,  276,  2SO : 
Memphis.  274 ;  Menes,  a  Thinite  prince, 
united  the  "  Two  Countries,"  271 ; 
Egyptian  civilization  old  in  the  time 
of  Menes,  271,  272,  296,  298,  299,  305; 
Egypt  anciently  a  bay  of  the  sea.  Hero- 
dotus, Diodenis,  and  IJennell,  275 ;  old 
Sanskrit  books  on  Egypt,  277-233 ;  on 


Index. 


409 


the  Nile  and  Moonland,  278,  279 ;   on  Gobineau  on  Races,  316-320. 

King  It,  280 ;  _on  Diyodasa  aud  Kephe-  Greek  race,  a  closely-related  group  of  Ar- 


us,  281,  282  ;  Menes  drained  part  of  Low- 
er Egypt,  271,  2T5 ;  the  infancy  of  Egyp- 
tian civilization  was  long  before  his 
time,  296,  298,  299 ;  he  may  not  have 
been  the  first  king  of  united  Egypt, 
296 ;  Egyptian  libraries,  301,  302 ;  Egyp- 
tian writing,  300 ;  attempts  to  measure 
Egyptian  antiquity,  303-305;  what  Mr. 
Homer  found  in  the  alluvium,  303 ;  his 
estimate  and  Bunsen's  opinion,  304, 
305;  Egyptian  manuscripts  the  oldest 
in  existence,  S02 ;  Solon  and  the  priest 


at  Sais,   302 ;    Diogenes   Laertius   on  Crete's   historical    skepticism,  40 ;    he 


Jan  astronomy,  116, 117. 

KI  Mas'udi,  103 ;  his  statements  relative 
to  Arabian  and  Iranian  royal  families. 
105, 106 ;  his  description  of  India  and 
the  ancient  Malayan  empire,  263. 

Ethiopia,,  weaning  of  the  word,  57,  53 ; 
was  the  ancient  Greek  name  for  Ara- 
bia, 59-61 ;  Joppa  one  of  its  ancient 
capitals,  133 ;  Homer  and  Strabo  on 
Ethiopia,  59-61 ;  Heeren  on  the  Ethio- 
pians, 62 ;  they  were  not  Africans,  57, 
58,  193  ;  why  countries  in  Africa  were 
called  Ethiopia,  5S. 

Etruria,  how  it  originated,  372 ;  its  civil- 
ization, 373,  374;  the  Etruscan  lan- 
guage, 374 ;  it  had  a  long  history,  375 ; 
vain  attempts  to  translate  the  Eugu- 
vine  tablets,  Otfried  Miiller,  Betham, 
374;  the  Etrurians  may  have  been  a 
mixture  of  Finns  and  Cushites,  373-375. 

Euguvine  tables,  374. 

Enhemerus  a  Rationalist,  356. 

Finns  the  oldest  known  people  of  Eu- 
rope, 368 ;  their  relation  to  the  Iberians', 
368,  369 ;  they  have  been  driven  north- 
ward, 36S ;  they  were  in  Italy  and  Illy- 
ria,  373. 

Formorians  the  oldest  known  people  of 
Ireland,  355,  385 ;  their  resistance  to  in- 
vaders, 385  ;  their  probable  origin,  385. 

Fresuel  on  the  ancient  Mepha,  82 ;  on  the 
Himyaric  language,  90 ;  on  the  origin 
of  Chaldea,  194,- 195 ;  on  Dionysos,  285. 

Fusang,  a  Chinese  and  Japanese  name 
of  America,  401 ;  a  Japanese  Eencyclo- 
psedia  on  Fusang,  401. 

Gades,  when  and  why  it  was  built,  156, 
354 ;  was  preceded  in  Spain  by  a  very 
old  Cushite  civilization,  156,  157 ;  its 
ship-building,  157. 

Geology  on  the  antiquity  of  man,  10  ;  its 
estimates  of  past  time,  13, 14 ;  how  its 
testimony  has  been  received,  25 ;  geo- 
logical changes  in  Lower  Chaldea,  189, 
191 ;  borings  and  excavations  in  the 
Nile  Valley,  303-305;  Geology  on  the 
history  of  Western  Europe,  353,  358. 

S 


van  tribes,  40 ;  their  relation  to  the  Fe- 
laagians,  163, 164 ;  their  civilized  prede- 
cessors, 40-45 ;  what  the  Greek  myths 
signify,  41,  45 ;  the  earliest  Greek  writ- 
ers were  Asiatics,  44 ;  Greek  culture  in 
Ionia  preceded  that  of  Hellas,  40-42, 46, 
47 ;  Hellas  generally  less  civilized  than 
Ionia,  42-45;  the  extraordinary  devel- 
opment of  the  Greek  language  exposes 
false  theories  of  Greek  history,  46 ;  lost 
Grecian  books  on  archaeological  topics, 
49,50. 


adopts  the  position  of  Varro,  41,  4-2 ; 
his  account  of  the  science  of  astrono- 
my in  Hellas,  42. 

Heeren  on  Ethiopia,  62 ;  on  the  first  seats 
of  civilization,  57 ;  his  sagacity,  63  ; 
what  he  said  of  Arabians  and  Phoeni- 
cians, 63 ;  he  failed  to  see  the  Cnshites, 
63;  on  the  Phoenicians  and  their  an- 
cient cities,  129,  134 ;  on  Indian  archi- 
tecture, 228;  on  the  connection  of  In- 
dia with  Arabia,  220. 

Hellas,  its  relation  to  civilization  misrep- 
resented, 39-49 ;  Hellenic  egotism  and 
ignorance  of  the  past,  39,  40,  46,  48 ;  its 
treatment  of  Herodotus,  45,  267 ;  Olen, 
Orpheus,  and  others  not  Greeks  or  Hel- 
lenes, 45,  46 ;  how  the  history  of  Hellas 
has  been  written,  39,  46 ;  suppose  Amer- 
ican history  so  written  3000  years  hence, 
47  ;  Bryant's  opinion  of  Greek  writers 
on  Mythology  and  Antiquity,  48 ;  lim- 
ited geographic  knowledge  of  the  Hel- 
lenic people,  102  ;  their  scholars  neg- 
lected the  history  of  Egypt,  267. 

Hercules,  Pillars  of,  157, 158  ;  Hercules  at 
the  West,  152, 153, 124,  355  ;  he  died  in 
Spain,  335 ;  his  stone  and  cup,  124 ;  in 
the  myths,  353,  355. 

Himyaric  inscriptions,  when  first  discov- 
ered, 81,  82 ;  they  preserve  the  old  lan- 
guage, 89 ;  their  probable  age,  90,  91, 
194;  Himyaric  inscriptions  at  Samar- 
cand,  110 ;  Mr.  Birch's  criticism,  91. 

Himyarite  kings  in  Southern  Arabia,  106 ; 
date  given  for  the  time  of  Himyar,  107 ; 
the  Himyarite  kingdom  divided,  and, 
after  "  fifteen  generations,"  reunited 
by  Harith-el-Raisch,  107 ;  chronological 
stupidity  relative  to  the  time  of  Him- 
yar, 107;  Mahometan  attempts  to  re- 
construct all  Arabian  history  around 
the  Himyarite  kings,  104;  the  Himyar- 
ite kingdom  destroyed  by  an  invasion 
from  Aoyssinia,  107. 

Historical  skepticism,  its  hopeless  incre- 
dulity, 21 ;  illustrated  in  Grote's  histo- 
ry of  Greece,  40,  41 ;  must  doubt  its«lf 
at  times,  173. 


410 


Index. 


It  on  ancient  civilizations,  23, 54 ;!  24S ;  their  notice  of  the  Phallic  worship 
Ethiopians  in  Central  Asia,  110 ;  of  the  natives,  24!» ;  Mann's  description 
of  Aryavartta,  251 ;  the  Imlo-Aryuns  on 
the  Lower  Gauges,  252 ;  in  Southern  In- 
dia, 253;  when  they  began  to  mix  their 
color  with  the  natives,  251 ;  this  mix- 
ture in  Alexander's  time,  251,  252 ;  four 
periods  of  Indo- Aryan  history,  2C1, 262 ; 
the  Indo- Aryans  and  the  old  mythology 
and  religion  of  India,  258,  289,  290. 
Ionia  had  the  earliest  known  Greek  civ- 
ilization, 40-42,  46,  47 ;  its  cities  origin- 
ally built  by  the  Phoenicians,  45,  4G ; 
Ernst  Curtius  on  the  louians,  151. 


Humboldt 
on  the 

on  the  mariner's  compass,  122, 123  ;  on 
myths,  2S9 ;  on  superior  and  inferioi 
races,  316 ;  on  old  maps  of  South  Afri- 
ca, 347,  348 ;  on  ancient  knowledge  of 
America,  393,  399. 

Hyperboreans,  377 ;  their  embassies  to 
Delos,  377,  3TS  ;  where  they  dwelt,  377 ; 
visited  by  the  Meropes,  400. 

Iberians,  probably  a  mixture  of  Cushites 
and  Finns,  368-370 ;  the  Ligurians  and 
Sicani  of  this  family,  368  ;  the  old  Ibe- 


rian territory  in  Spain  and  France,  368, 
369 ;  the  Iberians  in  Italy  and  Sicily, 
370 ;  antiquity  of  Cushite  influence  in 
Spain,  369,  370,  374. 

India,  what  it  includes,  216, 217  ;  the  San- 
skrit people  were  a  small  minority  of 
its  inhabitants,  217;  its  ante-Sanskrit 
people  were  dark  skinned.  217,  248 ;  the 
Cnshite  Arabians  preceded  the  San- 
skrit race,  and  found  a  dark-colored 
race  in  India,  21S ;  India  naturally  con- 
nected with  Arabia  and  Eastern  Africa, 
918  ;  Cnshite  remains  in  India,  219-227  ; 
the  rock-cut  temples,  228;  Gorresio  on 
the  ante-Sanskrit  religion  of  India,  220, 
221 ;  early  Sanskrit  or  Vedic  fanaticism 
on  its  predecessors,  2_20, 24S ;  the  Cush- 
ite serpent-worship  in  India  and  Cey- 
lon, 222 ;  statement  of  the  Chinese  Fa- 
hian,  222,  223;  the  festival  of  Holi  and 
our  May-day,  223  ;  the  worship  of  Ve- 
tal,  223 ;  Col.  Leslie  on  the  resemblance 
of  customs  of  Kelts,  Cauaanites,  and 
the  ante-Sanskrit  people  Of  India,  224. 
227 ;  planet  worship  the  earliest  relig- 
ion traced  in  India,  Ferishta's  Mahom- 
edan  India  quoted,  224,  225 ;  Indian 


civilization  of  India,  220,  24S,  260,  261 ; 
Professor  jjciifey  on  the  ante-Sanskrit 
people  of  the  Dekban,  227 ;  Rev.  Dr. 
Stevenson's  statements,  221,  222,  223  ; 
ante-Cushite  people  of  India  and  their 
language,  i'42 ;  the  Vedic  age  began  in 
the  Punjab  and  ended  on  the  Sarasvat  i, 
247-250;  Vedic  notice  of  the  Phallic 
worship,  24!) ;  religious  history  of  San- 
skrit India,  253-253;  history  of  India 
falsified  by  modern  Brahmanism.  2r>0, 
262;  Wilford,  Wathen,  Tumour,  and  the 
Jainas  on  this  point,  259,  260,  262,  203  ; 
Indian  history  a_nd  chronology,  200-263 ; 
the  two  historical  works  deemed  au- 
thentic, 260 ;  the  kingdom  of  Magadha, 
262. 

Indo- Aryans,  they  belonged  originally  to 
the  kingdom  of  Hiras,  246;  their  Ve- 
dic age,  247-250;  their  fanaticism,  248 ; 


Ireland,  its  ancient  history,  3S2-387  ;  For- 
morians  the  oldest  people  of  Ireland, 
355,  385 ;  More  the  Formorian  and  Ne- 
imhidh,  385 ;  the  Fir-Bolgs  and  the  Tu- 
atha-de-Dananns,  3S5,  386  ;  Nuadha's 
silver  hand,  386 ;  Ireland  conquered 
and  held  by  the  Milesians,  386;  it  is 
discreditable  to  neglect  Irish  ancient 
history,  387  ;  its  probability,  3S7  ;  wo 
know  from  other  sources  that  Ireland 
was  an  independent  nation  2000  years 
ago,  387,  388;  reign  ofOllamh  Fodlila, 
388;  Ireland  and  its  learning  in  the  Sth 
and  9th  centuries,  383,  389  ;  Mosheim 
and  Camdeu  on  this  point,  388,  389 ; 
Toland  on  Irish  manuscripts,  282,  2S3; 
the  Senchus-Mor,  383 ;  Patricius  falsely 
called  St.  Patrick,  2S3,  284 ;  Tacitus  on 
Ireland,  382;  Ireland  outlived  the  oth- 
er Keltic  countries,  and  even  Rome  it- 
self, 382 ;  Annals  of  the  Fonr  Masters, 
3S4;  the  Irish  kings,  384;  how  the  old 
annals  were  written,  384;  date  of  the 
Milesian  conquest, 385;  ancient  connec- 
tion of  Ireland  with  the  Cnshite  people 
of  North  Africa,  3S5,  386,  355 ;  Irish  voy- 
ages to  America,  400,  401. 


municipalities,  225,  226;  ante-Sanskrit  Italy,  its  ancient  history,  371-375;  the  first 

Pelasgians  in  Italy,  371 ;  how  Etrnria 
arose,  372 ;  the  ante-Pelasgian  people 
formed  by  the  Cushites,  373,  374  ;  Dio- 
nysins  of  Halicarnassns  on  the  ancient 
people  of  Italy,  373 ;  the  Cushites  were 
m  Italy  more  than  3000  years  earlier 
than  the  Pelasgiaus,  374. 

Kahtan  represents  a  great  epoch  in  Ara- 
bian ancient  history,  103-105 ;  he  was  a 
very  different  personage  from  the  Se- 
mitic Joktan,  70  ;  a  great  Arabian  civ- 
ilization before  his  time,  104, 105 ;  his 
position  in  Arabian  history  like  that  of 
Kaiamors  in  Iranian  history,  105. 

Keltic  language  and  countries,  389-392, 
381,  382;"  Keltic  civilization,  352, -381 ; 
what  constituted  Keltica,  390 ;  language 
of  the  Kelts,  two  branches  of  the  family 
remain,  389;  Craik's  opinion  of  it,  389 ; 


their  settlement  in  the  upper  valley |    its  probable  origin,  390 ;  its  Aryan  ele 
of  the  Ganges,  230;  they  were  white,!    merits  resemble  Latin, 390;  no  similar 


Index. 


411 


fusion  of  races  and  tongues  elsewhere 
in  Western  Europe,  391 ;  the  fusion  not 
complete  in  Spain,  391 ;  Welsh  proba- 
bly came  from  Gaul,  and  Irish  from 
Spain,  391 ;  Whitney  and  Schleicher  on 
Keltic  speech,  389,  390. 
Kepheus,  his  kingdom  described  by  Co- 
nou,  01 ;  he  represents  an  early  period 
in  Arabian  history,  112 ;  he  reigued  at 
Joppa,  133, 148. 

Lang  on  old  civilizations,  12 ;  on  the  Ma- 
lays, 2C5. 

Language  of  the  Cushite  Arabians,  88-91 ; 
the  Turanian  fancy,  88 ;  this  old  tongue 
found  in  the  Chaldean  ruins,  89 ;  the 
countries  where  it  was  used,  88,  89 ;  it 
is  still  used  in  some  districts,  89,  90 ; 
Dr.  Carter's  opinion  of  its  sweetness, 
89  ;  it  remained  long  at  Zhafar,  90 ;  how 
Fresuel  and  Forster  spoke  of  it,  90. 

Lepsius  on  Egyptian  history  and  chro- 
nology, 271 ;  on  the  origin  of  alphabet- 
ic writing,  274 ;  on  the  ancient  history 
of  Italy,  372. 

Livingstone  on  African  iron-making  and 
manufactures,  327,  328 ;  on  the  mixture 
of  races  in  Africa,  331;  on  the  "true 
type"  of  the  African  people,  331. 

Loftus-on  Chaldea,  183, 193. 

Lubbock  on  implements  of  the  Age  of 
Bronze,  353 ;  on  periods  of  the  Age  of 
Stone,  359;  on  the  temple  at  Abury, 
360 ;  on  the  limit  of  the  Age  of  Bronze 
in  Switzerland,  363  ;  on  Nilssou's  views 
of  the  origin  of  the  Age  of  Bronze,  306, 
367. 

Mahomet's  race  Semitic,  73,  74  ;  destruc- 
tive influence  of  his  religion  in  Arabia, 
75;  Mahometan  literature  conscious  of 
the  preceding  civilization,  75;  Mahom- 
et and  the  old  race,  76;  Mahometans 
have  confused  and  falsified  the  past  in 
Arabia,  76 ;  the  Joktan  fable,  76 ;  Ma- 
hometan ism  incapable  of  writing  his- 
tories of  the  Cushite  civilization,  103 ; 
its  destructiveness  in  North  Africa,  337. 

Malayan  empire,  263-266 ;  El  Mas'udi's  ac- 
count of  it,  263 ;  how  the  Portuguese 
found  it  550  years  later,  263, 264;  account 
of  it  as  it  was  in  the  9th  century,  264 ; 
Marsden  on  the  Malays,  264  ;  wide  dif- 
fusion of  Malay  dialects,  264,  265;  Rev. 
Dr.  Lang  on  this  empire,  265 ;  origin  of 
Malayan  civilization,  265 ;  Malayan  an- 
tiquities, inscriptions,  etc.,  205,  266; 

Mariner's  compass,  erroneously  claimed 
as  an  invention  of  Flavio  Gioja,  121 ;  it 
was  much  older  than  his  time,  121-124; 
described  by  Kaymond  Lully  and  Peter 
Aclsiger,  121 ;  by  Guyot  de  Provins  in 
1180  A.D.,122;  supposed  mention  of  it 
by  Plautus,  122  ;  it  was  brought  to  Eu- 


rope by  Arabians,  122, 123;  theold  Cush- 
ites  more  likely  to  invent  it  than  the 
ancient.  Chinese,  123 :  the  date  of  its 
first  use  in  Western  Europe  not  the 
date  of  its  origin,  123  ;  Di  Gama  found 
it  in  use  on  the  Indiai  Seas,  123,  334; 
it  existed  among  the  Pnosnicians,  124- 
120 ;  ancient  knowledge  of  the  magnet, 
124, 125 ;  the  mariner's  compass  invent- 
ed by  the  ancient  Arabians,  125 ;  why 
it  was  held  as  a  scientific  and  commer- 
cial secret,  125,  126,  127 ;  "night  sail- 
ing," 126;  the  stone  and  cup  of  Hercu- 
les, 124;  the  old  lady  and  "so  far  off," 
127, 128. 

Martu,  or  Marathos,  its  antiquity  accord- 
ing to  the  Chaldean  inscriptions,  143  ; 
its  ruins,  144,  145;  it' was  much  older 
than  the  Hebrew  immigration,  146  ; 
much  older  than  Sidon.  149 ;  its  ruins 
indicate  that  the  very  o-  .  city  they'rep- 
resent  was  built  of  materials  taken  from 
ruins  of  a  much  older  city,  149 ;  Diodo- 
rus  Siculus  on  Martu,  14'.). 

"Median"  dynasty  of  Berosus,  attempts 
to  explain  it,  109,  212  ;  it  was  probably 
established  by  Zohak,  the  Arabian,  10!), 
110, 197. 

Minos  and  his  time,  1C5, 10(5;  he  was  not 
a  D&rian  Greek,  105 :  he  inny  have  con- 
quered Pelasgia,  106;  he  made  Crete  a 
powerful  maritime  state,  106. 

Monotheism  the  earliest  form  of  religions 
faith,  295;  Reuan,  Rawlinson,  and  the 
Desatir  on  Aryan  monotheism,  292;  the 
Veda,  the  Orphic  Fragments,  and  Her- 
mesianax  on  this  point,  293;  its  relation 
to  mythology,  294. 

Mythology  amu  mythological  persons,  922 
-296;  it  implies  monotheism,  293 ;  how 
it  originated,  294  ;  it  precedes  polythe- 
ism, 295 ;  Euhemerns  on  mythology, 
356. 

Myths  and  traditions,  t''~;T  show  facts 
mixed  with  fancies  and  prejudices  of 
the  people  who  transmit  them,  277,  283, 
286 ;  the  Greek  myths,  41,  45  ;  Wilford 
and  the  Indian  myths,  2S8,  289  ;  myths 
relating  to  Northeni  Africa  and  West- 
ern Europe,  335,  336,  338,  353,  354,  356- 
353, 376 ;  Atlas  and  Saturn  reigned  over 
countries  in  the  West,  353,  357  ;  the 
myths  contain  history,  357,  353;  ancient 
opinions  concerning  the  gods,  356. 

Navigation  around  Africa  in  pre-historis 
times,  345;  the  Cushite  settlements  on 
the  East  and  West  Coasts  made  this  cer- 
tain,345;  how  this  navigation  was  inter- 
rupted, 347;  attempts  to  resume  it  sev- 
eral centuries  later,  346;  a  ship  ofGades 
wrecked  on  the  eastern  coast,  347;  the 
Arabians  had  maps  of  South  Africa  long 
before  the  Portuguese  went  there,  347, 


412 


Index. 


348 ;  the  old  name  of  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  347 ;  what  the  Portuguese  had 
learned  of  the  Arabians,  348 ;  the  oldest 
opinions  of  antiquity  concerning  South 
Africa  the  most  correct,  348 ;  Ophir,  348- 
360. 
Negroes  a  distinct  race,30S-311 ;  the  Bush- 


skrit  notice  of  Pelasgia,  1C3 ;  the  Pelas- 
gi  were  Aryans,  their  character,  103, 
1(54;  Greek  account  of  Pelasgian  kiiiL's, 
164, 105 ;  dates  in  their  history,  ICft ;  the 
Pelasgians  in  Italy,  371,374;  they  cre- 
ated Keltica,  390. 
Peru,  its  antiquities,  393. 


men  not  negroes,  309, 310;  Gobineau  on  Phoenicia,  origin  of  the  name,  129, 130 ;  it 


the  black  race,  319. 

Nilsson  on  the  Age  of  Bronze,  365 ;  he 
shows  its  Cushite  origin,  366,  366;  Lub- 
bock  on  his  views,  366, 367. 

Nimrod  discussed,  198, 199. 

Northern  Africa  in  pre-historic  times,  335 
-337;  its  civilization  began  in  very  re- 
mote times,  335,  355,  374,  380 ;  Carthage, 
335,  336;  Tacitus  on  North  Africa,  3 
its  ruins,  336 ;  Leo  Africanus  on  the  city 
of  Moroco,  337 ;  on  the  destructiveness 
of  Mahometan  fanaticism,  337 ;  the  Ber- 
bers are  remains  of  the  old  Cushite  com- 
munities, 338, 343, 344 ;  Leo  on  the  Ber- 
bers, 338,  339 ;  mythical  kings  and 
kingdoms  of  Northwestern  Africa  and 
Southwestern  Europe,  353, 355,  357 ;  Ire- 
land first  colonized  .from  Africa,  355 ; 
the  term  Africa  originally  meant  the 
West,  and  became  a  name  of  the  conti- 
nent in  Roman  time?,  375 ;  this  name 
anciently  applied  to  Western  Europe, 
375. 

Oman,  its  political  system,  113. 

Ophir,  where  it  was  situated,  348-350 ;  Dr. 
Krapf.Max  Miiller,  and  others  on  Ophir, 
348;  Miiller's  philological  argument 
has  no  force,  349;  Ophir  means  "the 
West,"  Wilford,  Lowth,  349  ;  it  was 
some  country  west  of  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  349, 350 ;  voyages  to  Ophir  were 
made  from  Tartessus  as  well  as  from 
Ezion-geber,  350;  it  was  probably  on 
the  Gold  Coast  of  Africa,  350. 

Origin  of  separate  races  and  families  of 
language,  16,  312-314;  the  Cushite,  Se- 
mitic, and  Aryan  races  seem  to  have  had 
a  common  origin,  17;  Hebrew  tradi- 
tions, 17, 18 ;  origin  of  civilization  lost 
in  obscurity,  11, 13,  30 ;  origin  of  Phoe- 
nicia, 129-141 ;  of  Carthage,  153, 154 ;  of 
the  Egyptians,  271 ;  of  Greek  and  San- 
skrit mythology,  283 ;  of  Etraria,  372 ; 
of  Keltica,  890. 

"Orthodox"  learning  and  progress  in 
knowledge,  19,  20. 

Palgrave  on  Central  Arabia,  C9-72. 

Past,  the,  schemes  for  measuring  it,  9. 

Patricias  the  bishop  not  the  true  St.  Pat- 
rick, 283,  284 ;  he  was  three  centuries 
later  than  St.  Patrick.  283, 284. 


was  anciently  called  Ethiopia,  133, 134; 
how  it  became  a  small  district,  l-j'.i.  i:;t>, 
135;  its  mins,  141-145;  its  antiquity  ac- 
cording to  Sir  Henry  RawllnBon,  14i> ; 
Sidon  m  Hebrew  times,  150 ;  Old  Tyre 
in  Hebrew  times,  152 ;  sarcophagus  of 
a  king  of  Sidon,  109. 

Phoenician  Language  and  Literature,  1C" 
-172;  no  remains  of  the  literature  in 
the  Phoenician  language,  167 ;  some 
fragments  in  Greek,  107 ;  the  language 
assumed  to  be  Semitic,  1CS ;  the  oldest 
epigraphs  and  inscriptions  not  earlier 
than  the  Carthaginian  period,  168, 16u ; 
Reuan  on  the  Phoenician  lauguage,169, 
170;  writing  and  dialects  of  Tynans 
and  native  Carthaginians  not  "alike, 
Geseuius  and  Sallust,  170,  171 ;  if  a 
change  occurred  in  Phoenicia,  it  did  not 
extend  to  Northern  Africa,  170 ;  lan- 
guage of  Sidon  not  like  that  of  North- 
ern Africa,  171 ;  what  the  change  in 
Phoenicia  may  actually  have  been,  171, 
172 ;  language  of  the  Canary  Islands 
was  Phoenician,  159 ;  of  the  Berbers,338. 

Phoenician  people  and  history,  129-131 ; 
origin  of  the  Phoenicians  discussed,  129- 
140 ;  Heeren  and  Herodotns  on  Phoeni- 
cian history,  129, 130;  the  supposed  Phoe- 
nician immigration,  what  it  means,  130, 
131, 137 ;  the  Phoenicians  a  fragment  of 
the  old  Cushite  race,  131 ;  Voltaire  and 
Movers  on  the  immigration,  135-137 ; 
when  Tyre  was  built,  133, 151 ;  what  the 
Phoenicians  were  called  by  the  more 
ancient  Greeks,  134  ;  a  Semitic  dialect 
did  not  make  them  Semites,  138, 140 ; 
their  great  antiquity,  143, 145, 146  ;  the 
periods  of  Phoenician  history,  147-155 ; 
three  or  more  great  periods  previous  to 
the  rise  of  Sidon,  148, 149 ;  the  period 
of  Sidon  older  than  Homer,  14!),  150 ; 
date,  period,  and  sway  of  Tyre,  151-154; 
Carthage  represents  the  last  period  of 
Phoenician  history,  154, 155;  Bernt.Byb- 
lius,  Joppa,  and  Martu  represent  ante- 
Sidonian  periods,  147,  148,  155  ;  Arvad 
or  Ruad  very  old,  149 ;  Movers,  false 
chronology,  and  Sidon,  150;  why  the 
Tynans  emigrated  to  Carthage,  154  ; 
the  early  Cushite  colonies  at  the  West, 
and  the  later  Tyriau  occupation,  152, 
153. 


Pelasgians,  their  dominion  aronnd  the  Phoenicians,  the  political  system  with 
jEgean,  151 ;  on  their  history,  162-165;  which  they  come  into  history,  112, 113, 
Greek  writers  on  the  Pelasgi,  162 ;  San-l  115, 158 ;  they  attributed  letters  and  sci- 


Index. 


413 


ence  to  Taut,  91, 118, 119;  their  nwitical 
science,  120 ;  they  had  the  mariner's 
compass,  123,  124 ;  it  was  one  of  their 
commercial  secrets,  125-127 ;  secrecy  of 
Phoenician  and  Arabian  commerce,  127; 
Poseidon  and  the  Cabiri,  156 ;  great  ex- 
tent of  Phoenician  commerce,  15S-1G1 ; 
its  influence  traced  around  the  Medi- 
terranean, 158 ;  in  Scandinavia,  159  ;  in 
Western  Africa,  159,  100;  in  Central 
Asia,  161. 

Pliny  on  the  origin  of  alphabetic  writing, 
94;  on  Ceylon,  Arabia,  and  Oman,  102 ; 
on  Hanno's  voyage  to  Arabia,  346. 

Political  system  of  Ancient  Arabia,  112- 
116;  its  remains  to  be  classed  with 
Arabian  antiquities,  112 ;  where  they 
are  found,  112-114 ;  probable  character 
of  this  system,  112 ;  it  is  the  earliest  in 
Arabian  tradition,  115, 116;  its  remains 
in  India  described,  225,226;  hi  North 
Africa,  341, 342. 

Popoe  beads  Phoenician,  160. 

Pre-historic  times  denned,  50, 51 ;  in  their 
remote  ages,  unrecorded  civilizations 
may  have  existed,  53,  54,  96,  97;  inqui- 
ry concerning  pre-historic  times  now 
forced  upon  us,  52 ;  what  they  include, 
as  history  is  written,  51. 

Ptolemy's  Geography,  231. 

Pytheas  of  Massilia,  376 ;  Strabo's  false 
view  of  his  voyage  to  the  north,  376. 

Races  in  Arabia,  73-78;  Wm.  Muir  and 
Caussin  de  Percival  on  the  Joktan-Kah- 
tan  f  ible,  76 ;  races  in  Africa,  307-311 ;  a 
theoi  y  of  the  negro  race  criticised,  308- 
311 ;  a  brief  essay  on  races,  311-322  ; 
Max  Miiller's  theory  of  English  and 
].i'i:_.i.c'  e  brotherhood,  311 ;  origin  of 
races,  16,  312-314;  races  now  seldom 
found  pure,  315 ;  Aryans,  Cushites,  and 
Semites  physiologically  alike,  314 ;  in- 
ferior and  superior  races,  Gobineau,  316 
-320 ;  each  race  has  its  peculiar  gift,  321, 
322;  falsely_  assumed  superiority,  316, 
320,  321 ;  mixture  of  races  iu  Europe, 
315. 

Eawlinson, George,  on  the  ethnic  charac- 
ter of  the  Phoenicians,  132, 133, 146, 147 ; 
his  Turanian  theory,  132 ;  on  the  earli- 
est race  of  civilizers  and  builders  in 
Phoenicia,  143, 146  ;  on  Chaldean  civili- 
zation, 174,  175;  on  Chaldean  ruins, 
188 ;  Sir  H.  Rawlinson  on  Nipur,  189  ; 
on  geological  changes  in  Chaldea,  191 ; 
on  the  Cushite  origin  of  Chaldea,  192 ; 
G.  Rawlinson  on  linguistic  changes  in 
Chaldea,  205 ;  on  the  Cnshites  in  India, 
220;  Sir  Henry  on  the  origin  of  the 
Egyptians,  273  ;  G.  Rawlinson  on  Aryan 
monotheism,  292. 

Renan,  his  great  services  in  archaeologi- 
cal and  linguistic  science,  21,  22 ;  his 


view  of  the  relation  of  Phoenicia  to  Ye- 
men, 132 ;  his  theory  of  the  origin  of 
the  Phoenicians,  139,  140 ;  his  specula- 
tions on  their  race  and  language,  137- 
140 ;  his  explorations  in  Phoenicia,  141- 
145, 169 ;  what  he  says  of  the  Phoenician 
language,  169, 170 ;  of  monotheism,  292 ; 
of  Egyptian  civilization,  296 ;  on  the 
Semites,  315. 

Rock-cut  temples  of  India,  228-236 ;  Ele- 
phanta,  Salsette,  Ellora,  and  Mavalipu- 
ra,  228,  229 ;  these  works  Cushite  in 
character,  229, 237 ;  denials  of  their  an- 
tiqnity,230;  early  notices  of  them  which 
confound  these  denials,  230,  231,  234; 
what  Maurice  said  of  them,  231,  232  ; 
they  could  not  have  been  built  as  late 
as  the  denials  say,  232 ;  they  were  de- 
serted and  mysterious  more  than  1700 
years  ago,  230,  232 ;  they  were  made  for 
the  worship  of  Siva  or  Baal,  233,  235; 
are  older  than  what  we  know  as  Buddh- 
ism, 234 ;  they  are  older  than  their  in- 
scriptions, 233 ;  not  coincident  with  the 
domination  of  Buddhism,  234, 235 ;  the 
Nubian  rock-temples  older  than  their 
inscriptions.  233 ;  the  Indian  rock-tem- 
ples not  Buddhist  works,  234-236. 

Ruins,  in  Arabia,  80-88 ;  how  they  were 
discovered,  SI ;  remains  of  the  ancient 
city  of  Mepha,  at  Nakab-el-Hadjar,  81, 
82 ;  the  ancient  Kana,  or  His'n  Ghorab, 
82;  the  ruins  at  Zhafar,  83;  at  Mareb 
or  Saba,  84 ;  ruins  of  the  dike  Arim,  84, 
85 ;  vagaries  of  some  writers  relative  to 
the  age  of  this  dike,  85 ;  the  Mahomet- 
an  natives  refer  the  ruins  to  their  iufi- 
del  ancestors,  85,  86  ;  Strabo,  Pliny, 
Ptolemy,  and  others  describe  Arabian 
cities  that  no  longer  exist,  85 ;  ruins  in 
Phoenicia  at  Arvad,  Marathos,  etc.,  142 
-145 ;  in  Chaldea,  188-191 ;  ruined  cities 
in  Ceylon,  236 ;  ruins  in  North  Africa, 
336,  337. 

Saba  the  old  capital  of  Yemen,  84 ;  Saba, 
a  king  in  Arabian  history,  what  his 
kingdom  included,  106. 

Saivas,  an  ancient  religious  sect  in  India, 
235,  257,  25S ;  they  adopted  ante-Vedic 
gods,  258  ;  their  influence  in  developing 
modern  Brahmanism,  257,  258;  Siva- 
worship  ante-Vedic,  258,  259. 

Sancha,  an  ancient  name  of  Upper  Egypt 
and  Eastern  Africa,  280;  traces  of  the 
name  still  exist,  375. 

Sanchoniathon,  136. . 

Sanskrit  or  Aryan  geography,  63-66;  It 
was  that  of  the  early  Greeks,  as  found  in 
Homer  and  Hesiod,  66 ,-  the  seven  dwi- 
pas,64;  Cusha-dwipa  important, though 
not  a  great  division  of  the  earth, 64;  the 
Sanskrit  language  older  than  the  Pali, 
254 ;  Sanskrit  books  on  Egypt,  277 :  on 


414 


Index. 


189, 190 ;  was  the  oldest  Chaldean  city, 
191, 192,  209 ;  was  the  first  capital  of 
Chaldea,  189,  209. 


Dionysos,  287 ;  on  Pelasgia,  163 ;  on 
Western  Europe,  378-380 ;  why  Sanskrit 
books  say  so  much  of  Africa  and  West- 
ern Europe,  378. 

Science  in  ancient  times  secret  and  ex-  Vambery  on  ruins  in  Central  Asia,  161. 
elusive,  126 ;  Pythagoras  in  Egypt,  126 ;  I 

science  in  ancient  Arabia,  118-1-26;  Stra-  Welsh  books  noticed,  383. 
bo  on  Phoenician  science  and  "  night- Western  Europe,  its  antiquities,  14,  15; 


sailing,"  126. 

Semites  in  Arabia  called  Monstarribes, 
74,  77 ;  they  have  chiefly  occupied  the 
attention  of  the  moderns,  77,  99 ;  they 
are  comparatively  modern  in  Arabia, 
77;  they  have  appropriated  the  repu- 
tation of  the  old  race,  76,  77 ;  the  Ara- 
bian Semites  were  not  a  literary  people, 
102, 103 ;  the  life  of  their  prophet  not 
written  until  more  than  a  century  after 
his  death,  103 ;  Semites  found  in  Chal- 
dea by  the  civilizing  Cushites,  187,  204, 
205. 

Solon  on  Atlantis,  353, 334 ;  Atlantis  and 
the  Athenian  Panathenaea,  396. 

Spain  and  Northwestern  Africa  ancient- 
ly closely  connected,  375,  376;  great  an- 
tiquity of  their  first  civilization,  355, 
364,  374,  380;  they  were  known  as  "  the 
West,"  375.  376 ;  were  better  known  to 
Greeks  before  Homer's  time  than  after 
it,  376 ;  the  oldest  people  in  Spain,  369, 
370. 

Stonehenge  a  temple  of  the  Bronze  Age, 
360 ;  Stonehenges  in  Arabia,  87,  83. 

Snsiana  part  of  ancient  Chaldea,  197 ;  a 
date  in  its  ruins,  197;  it  probably  led  in 


expelling  the 
212. 


'Median*  dynasty,  208, 


Tartessus  and  "  ships  of  Tarshish,"  156, 
157;  voyages  from  Tartessus  to  Opbir, 
350. 

Thrace  in  ancient  times,  45, 46. 

Tonaricks,  their  Phoenician  or  Cushite 
origin,  340,  341 ;  their  cities  and  condi- 
tion in  the  Sahara,  341 ;  their  language 
and  literature,  340,  341;  their  inscrip- 
tions like  those  of  El  Harrah  and  Cen- 
tral Arabia,  86 ;  Touaricks  described  by 
Richardson,  Lyon,  and  others,  341,  342"; 
their  political  organization  and  women, 
341 ;  their  alphabet  is  Phoenician,  340. 

"  Turanian"  a  very  indefinite  term  in  lin- 
guistic science,  88,  242 ;  improperly  ap- 
plied to  the  Cnshites,  88,  89 ;  the  Tu- 
ranian theory  on  the  Dravidian  lan- 
guages, 242. 

Turdetani,  a  people  in  Spain,  352;  their 
civilization,  352,  381 ;  their  books,  352. 


Unity  of  mankind,  10,  312. 

Ur  of  the  Chaldees,  where  Renan  seeks  Zoroaster  and  chronology,  34-37. 
it,  139, 205 ;  its  ruins  in  Lower  Chaldea, 


how  we  begin  its  history,  351 ;  the  Kelts 
not  inferior  to  the  Romans  in  many  re- 
spects, 352;  Csesar  described  their  civil- 
ization, 351 ;  Strabo's  account  of  it,  352  ; 
the  Romans  destroyed  the  books  of 
other  peoples,  335,  352 ;  two  periods  of 
Cnshite  occupation  of  Western  Europe 
and  North  Africa,  353-358 ;  the  first  an- 
cient and  mythical  in  Tvrian  times,  3f>3, 
355;  the  Atlantic  Island,  353,  357;  the 
ages  of  Stone,  Bronze,  and  Iron,  355, 
353;  very  ancient  Phoenicians  created 
the  Age  of  Bronze,  355,  365-367 ;  its  an- 
tiquity, 362,  364,  367;  the  Tyrians  cre- 
ated the  Age  of  Iron,  356,  307 ;  the  Age 
of  Stone  and  a  Finnic  race,  355, 359, 360, 
368 ;  in  Spain  and  Northwestern  Africa 
civilization  much  older  than  the  Age  of 
Bronze,  364,  369,  380 ;  a  foreign  people 
began  this  age,  364;  it  began  on  Hie 
West  Coast,  363,  364;  Western  Europe 
described  in  Sanskrit  books,  378;  by 
Homer,  376,  379 ;  its  ancient  communi- 
cation with  America,  397,  403. 

Whitney  on  Chinese  literature,  15;  on 
Prof.  Schleicher's  theory  of  the  Keltic 
tongues,  389,  390. 

Writings,  the  oldest,  11. 

Xibalba,  a  pre-historic  kingdom  in  Cen- 
tral America,  395;  it  was  established  by 
men  from  the  East  who  came  in  ships, 
394, 395 ;  its  government  resembled  that 
of  Atlantis,  397,  398. 

Yemen,  Khatan  its  first  king,  7C;  its  ru- 
ins, 81 ;  its  ancient  capital  and  great 
dike,  84,  85;  ita  relations  with  Fluent 
cia,  132. 

Zodiac,  its  antiquity,  117-119 ;  came  to  us 
from  the  Chaldeans,  118  r  zodiacs  u=ed 
in  India,  Chaldea,  and  Egypt  similar, 
US;  they  came  from  the  ancient  Ara- 
bians, 118. 

Zohak,  famous  in  Arabian  and  Iranian 
history,  was  an  Arabian  king,  108;  his 
kingdom,  98,  108;  he  conquered  the 
kingdom  of  Hiras  or  Iran,  108 ;  what 
the  Iranian  books  say  of  him,  108, 109; 
he  probably  established  the  "Median" 
dynasty  in  Chaldea,  109, 110. 


THE    END. 


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This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below 


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D65 

B19p     Baldwin  - 
cop. 2     Pre-histo] 
nations 


\V 58  00488  8607 


